


Frozen Hearts

by NadoHunter



Series: Fairytale!AU [2]
Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Drama & Romance, Fairy Tale Logic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-27
Updated: 2017-09-18
Packaged: 2018-10-11 10:41:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 62,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10463046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NadoHunter/pseuds/NadoHunter
Summary: "He who delights in solitude is either a beast or a god"In trying to escape his social obligations, William unexpectedly is hurled into a whole new world, where a strange man who rules of ice and snow seems to take interest with him. What does the lone Ice King want with him? And what will befall dear William the longer he stays in a world where the fairy tales told every day to children everywhere are happening in intersecting ways, all around him?--- with the help of a very kind friend, the first few chapters have been edited for typos and grammar mistakes ---





	1. Once Upon a Time...

**Author's Note:**

> I might end up changing the title, it's a working title for now. Hahaha.  
> Buckle up, this is going to be a long fic if all goes well, enjoy!

He wasn’t made for this. The room seemed to close around him, the warmth of the many bodies making him feel as if he was in an oven, being cooked alive. William looked desperately over at his mother and father. His mother nodded encouragingly, but he could see the expectant stress in their eyes. He pulled at his collar, feeling short of breath. A young lady with long red hair batted her eyelashes at him. All the women in the room had put on their best dresses, spent hours in front of the mirror, and now they were all _looking_ at him. His eyes darted around, their faces beginning to blur together. They were all waiting, all dying to impress him, in hopes they could be married to him. William didn’t _blame_ them; their family was wealthy enough that marrying him could provide for them and any children for their whole life.

He stiffened further, clamping up at the thought of _children_. The fact of coldly bedding a woman simply for the idea of producing an heir sent an uncomfortable feeling down his spine and caused a bit of bile to rise from his stomach. He opened his mouth, he was just standing there, he should say something, shouldn’t he?

“ _Just say hello or something William, they don’t bite…”_

He could feel the stuffy uncomfortable air rising in the room as some of the girls looked at each other, waiting for him to say something, smiles fading slightly in confusion. His dad nudged him harshly.

“ _Say_ something boy.”

William swallowed heavily, feeling as if he had sand stuffed down his throat. His joints felt completely frozen in place, and was sure his heart would stop beating any moment.

“I er…” he started, shoulders stiffening further as he heard how uncertain his own voice sounded. “Hel…helllo….welcome…”

Some of the girls furrowed their brows as they struggled to hear what he had just uttered.

“ _Speak up, you know better than that,_ ” his mother whispered.

He pushed up his glasses quickly, despite not needing to.

“Welcome, I…” He considered their expectant eyes and his words failed him again.

He couldn’t do this. He just _couldn’t_ . He had never been the type to say that he wanted to “fall in love”, but the idea he would have to pick one of these women. They all seemed to be just a crowd of eyes, _staring_ at him. It would never mean anything, he’d have to pick randomly anyway, and he’d have to marry and… _sleep_ with them. The thoughts of what this party was really for finally caught up with him. He had kept himself from really thinking about it for his parent’s sake.

“I… I’m sorry... I must go. Forgive me for wasting your time.”

He turned and walked out of the room fast, ignoring his mother’s gaping mouth and his father growling his name and yelling “Get **back** here!”

He couldn’t go to his own room, he would be found right away. He knew he might be seen as acting like a spoiled child. His parents had spent quite a bit of time and money on this gathering, after all, and he knew how much the girls in there had been preparing. He felt sick as he ducked into his parent’s room quickly, eyes darting around wildly looking for a place to conceal himself.

But he couldn’t do it, he wouldn’t compromise himself for his parents’ or family’s sake. He was dutiful to his family, but not if it meant needing to have a _child_ , or bed a woman he would always resent for her needing to be there. It wouldn’t be her fault, but he didn’t want to think of having to bring a child that he would resent into a relationship he’d resent.

He looked at his parents’ large wooden wardrobe, he reached toward the gold handle, he stopped and hesitated briefly, but as soon as he heard footsteps down the hall, he immediately pulled open the dark oak wood doors and launched himself inside, closing the door closed behind him. He moved back, quietly, moving behind the coats and articles of clothing within, reaching his hand behind him so he could feel the back of the wardrobe without smacking into it and making a racket.

He furrowed his brows, why did his parents have a wardrobe that was so deep? He didn’t think it went back _that_ far. Suddenly a draft of cold air passed over him. He shivered suddenly, feeling the bite of frost at his nose.

“ _A draft? In a wardrobe?_ ”

He slowly turned around, seeing a bit of light ahead of him. His eyes grew wide, he moved forward, he stopped hearing the soft thud of his feet hitting the wardrobe’s oak floor and instead heard snow beneath his feet. He walked out into the light, eyes taking a moment to adjust. He was entranced, moving forward automatically. The dark of the wardrobe completely left him, he looked around dazzled by trees taller than he had ever seen in his life, the smell of cold and pine invading his senses. The light snowfall began covering his thin jacket as he walked forward, mouth open somewhat stupidly, his eyes wide open and dilated in wonder.  

His feet suddenly felt a bit wet, the somewhat thin leather of his shoes were certainly not made for the snow he was currently sinking into. There wasn’t a sound to break the ambient noise the soft blowing wind created. Despite freezing, William suddenly felt… calm. He walked forward curiously. What on earth was a snowy wonderland doing in the back of his parent’s wardrobe? Maybe he should get one of the coats. He rubbed his arms as his breath puffed out and swirled in front of him, reacting with the air around him. He turned around, thinking to seek a warm cover so he could see more of the surrounding area. He nearly choked as his heart stopped.

Behind him was simply more of the sparkling, calm snow. Nothing else. The trees creaked slightly as the wind picked up, putting William’s hair a bit out of place. He ran his hand through it out of habit as the thought sank in that he had wandered into a strange place _through a wardrobe_ and was now stuck out in cold air to potentially freeze to death.

He looked around wildly, seeing nothing but more snowy woods. Out of panic, he briefly smacked his own cheek - it stung bitterly, the harsh cold only making it worse. His cheeks were becoming red and his nose was beginning to run. He was sure he would have awoken, were this cold-fantasy a dream.

Yet here he still was, a solo figure against a winter dream. He looked a bit like a lonely penguin in the Arctic.

“ _What do I do? What do I do? Think!”_

He supposed he could start a fire. He’d have to think of things like shelter, and food as well. He had read a book or two about men surviving with nothing, that had to count for something.

He mumbled nervously. Even if he had heard stories, he was no MacGyver, or Indiana Jones, he was William T. Spears, who barely went outside to begin with.

He shivered again, he really wished he had grabbed a coat when he first noticed the cold. He had been so hypnotized by the prospect of a hidden land hidden in the back of a wardrobe he hadn’t thought of giving himself thermal protection.

Suddenly he heard what sounded like a horse... two horses perhaps, and something sliding. Maybe it was a traveler. His heart leapt - maybe he could meet someone who knew what the hell was going on. He was about to go towards the direction of the sound when a bit of fear struck him.

“ _I’m in a strange land, who knows who or what lives here. They could be unfriendly…”_ he thought.

He ducked behind one of the large trees, pressing himself against it and trying to breathe quietly through his nose despite how stuffed it was beginning to feel. The sound grew louder, and from his peripheral vision, he could confirm that it was indeed two horses pulling what seemed like a sleigh. He peeked out curiously, his breath stopping for a moment as he laid eyes on the most beautiful pure white horses. Their manes were perfectly groomed, their hooves just as pearly and polished. He had never imagined such a horse could exist. He almost gasped before remembering the position he was in. He clasped his hand over his mouth and pushed himself back against the tree. To his horror, the sleigh suddenly stopped. The rustling of cloth and what almost sounded like chimes came from the sleigh. A pair of feet landed on the ground not too far away. William shut his eyes, hoping desperately he would go unseen.

“I _know_ someone is there…”

The voice William heard almost had him wanting to faint. It was deep and elegant. What he would have imagined a rich sweet would sound like if it could speak. He almost answered just so he could hear it again, but thought better and kept his mouth shut.

“I won’t hurt you, come on out…” the voice called soothingly.

William found himself completely fascinated with the owner of such a seductive voice. He slowly turned. He was lost in the middle of nowhere anyway, what was the worst that could happen?

He stepped out slowly from behind the tree and laid eyes upon the owner of the voice. He thought he might have fallen over in awe.

The man was dressed in a shimmering light blue cloth that appeared to be made of ice itself. A regal crown sat atop his raven-black hair that resembled icicles. He seemed completely at home in this winter world. His eyes fell upon William, the only things on him that weren’t a shade of icy blue or white. They were a deep, rich crimson that pierced right through William’s shocked form.

The regal man analyzed him. He suddenly seemed just as curious about William as William was with him.

He strode forward coolly, head held high as he looked him up and down William. He reached out and touched the fabric of William’s coat, looking at his clothing before once again meeting William’s eyes.

William swore - a look like that could cause him to melt. If his cheeks weren’t already red from the cold, he was sure they were now. He wasn’t sure why, but this being was making him feel a certain way he didn’t quite understand.

“You’re not from around here, are you?”

William shook his head slowly. “No um…your majesty?” William guessed. If he was in the presence of royalty, he didn’t want to be rude.

The man suddenly looked at him, amused, and threw his head back with a hearty laugh, making William jump slightly in surprise. As his head tilted, William saw in amazement how, in the soft light that streamed through the ice-heavy clouds, his skin seemed to shine as if it was embedded with small crystals.

“Do you have any idea who I am?” The man grinned widely.

“No, sir. I…” He sighed heavily. “I doubt you’ll believe me, but I… I ended up here after hiding in a wardrobe. I have no idea where I am. It was the middle of summer where I came from…”

“Ah, a wardrobe? How interesting.” He chuckled jovially.

Well, at least he seemed nice enough.

“I believe you. We have stories of a girl who fell here from a rabbit hole and another that was swept here by a cyclone.” He slowly walked around William, looking at him, analyzing him from head to toe. “I never thought I would meet someone from outside our world. This _is_ intriguing. Why were you in a wardrobe to begin with, may I ask?”

William pursed his lips and looked away, somewhat embarrassed. “I was hiding to avoid a social engagement.”

The man’s eyes seemed to sparkle with enjoyment. “Oh? Not much of a social person, are you?”

“No, I am not,” William admitted.

“I can certainly relate,” the man said simply.

“Excuse me, sir, but may I ask your name?” William asked politely.

A short chuckle escaped the man. He turned away from William, pacing in the snow. “You’re the first to ask me that in a long time.” He turned back to William and smiled wildly. “You may call me Sebastian. However, most people in this land know me as ‘The Ice King’,” the regal man stated proudly.

William nodded. “Well, then… Sebastian, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” William outstretched his hand to be polite. He thought for a moment; maybe he should have bowed.

Sebastian smiled and took William’s hand. It almost seemed as if he was going to shake it, but then he did something William couldn’t have expected in a million years. He lightly placed a kiss on the top of William’s hand.

William felt both silly and embarrassed, but for the time being he figured it would be rude to say anything at the current moment.

“And your name, if I may ask?” The man winked at him. He was intoxicatingly charming. William wasn’t sure if he really liked it.

“William T. Spears, sir... or, I… just William will do.”

“Mmm, William, I like the sound of that. Whatever does the ‘T’ stand for?”

William furrowed his brows and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly out of their usual frown. “You know, I’m not entirely sure. Every time I’d ask my dad he’d change his answer just to mess with me. ‘Tiberius’, ‘Tanaka’, ‘Thick’, and ‘Thoughtless’ have been just a few of his replies.”

Sebastian raised his eyebrows curiously. “What a strange family.” He suddenly put an arm around William, William stiffened, looking at Sebastian, confused. “I’d like you to tell me more, but you look as if you're about to freeze to death. I have a coat you can borrow, as well as sweet things I hope would be to your liking.”

William raised an eyebrow. Something told him this might be a bad idea. He had always been taught not to accept candy from strangers, and now he was letting an “ice king” lead him into his white sleigh.

Still though… he _was_ cold. What were the odds that someone else would come by who would offer to help him?

“If it’s no trouble, I would appreciate it.”

“Come then…” He uttered smoothly as he led William back to his ride. He climbed on and pulled William up to sit beside him. William noted it was surprisingly comfortable. The Ice King suddenly draped a thick coat that was made from a pelt of soft white fur on his shoulders. Needing the warmth, he took it appreciatively and wrapped it around himself, huddling up in the very welcome heat

“Do you like hot chocolate?” Sebastian asked, smiling at how the man wrapped himself up so desperately.

William’s pupils suddenly dilated, accidentally showing his excitement. “I _love_ it.”

Sebastian laughed. “Well then.” He held a mug in his hand, rich chocolate swirled around inside of it, the steam carrying the heavenly smell of sweetness to William’s nose. William wasn’t quite sure where Sebastian had suddenly got the beverage, but right now, he didn’t care. “Here you are.” Sebastian held it out to him and William took it eagerly.

“Thank you,” he sighed, joyfully enjoying the warmth that spread up his arms from holding the mug.

He paused for a moment - this was all so dream-like, yet he knew he wasn’t asleep. As he lifted the mug up to his lips to taste the sweet liquid, he had an odd feeling that this was somehow… right.

The hot chocolate was practically orgasmic. He relaxed deeply as he drank it. Its rich flavor ran down his throat, causing a soothing heat to pool in his stomach.

“Mmmm…” he inadvertently mumbled

“Good?” Sebastian asked with a smirk.

“Oh, yes, very…” he said as he took another sip. He felt as if he was slipping into heaven.

He watched the passing scenery as the horses galloped forward, wondering how big the forest was and what lay within.

“So, William, tell me, what are those things you wear on your face?”

“Hmm? Oh?” He looked at Sebastian. “My glasses?” He adjusted them out of habit. “They help me see, do you not have anyone who needs them here?” he asked.

“Interesting.” Sebastian tilted his head to the side. William thought he looked a bit like a cat doing that, it was somewhat endearing. “Not that I know of, why do you need help to see?”

“Oh, well, I was born with awful vision, without them, everything is blurry. I can barely make out my hand in front of my face.”

William wasn’t quite sure why he was being so open and chatty in front of a stranger. It wasn’t entirely like him, yet as he drank, he felt soothed and comfortable in the King’s presence.

“Truly? I’ve never heard of someone lacking in sight,” Sebastian stated in awe. “May I see?”

“Oh, of course.” William slid his glasses off his face. He really didn’t know why, without his sight, he was hopeless, dependent, and he found himself just handing it away without any fear or objection. He held it out to where he could just make out the vague outline of the Ice King. His glasses were taken from him, yet he just continued to calmly enjoy the hot beverage as if nothing was wrong as Sebastian carefully analyzed the spectacles.

“Seems as if they break easily…” Sebastian observed.

“Yes, I’ve broken several pairs before, especially as a child, but it wasn’t always my fault,” he confirmed calmly.

“Hmm…” Sebastian slid the glasses back onto William’s face. William found there was a bit of frost on them, but didn’t think much of it.

“Seems to be a hassle.”

“Oh, it is.” William smiled uncharacteristically. “Incredibly annoying.”

He looked curiously over the side of a large stone building they were crossing. It was covered with ice, yet the horses seemed to have no trouble crossing it at all. Far down below them was a great lake that had frozen over. It seemed they were approaching a large mountain range. William hummed in curiosity as the trees seemed to be more massive than any sequoias that he knew of, he would have loved to climb some of them when he was little.

“Where are we going?” William asked calmly, looking back at the Ice King who sat relaxed next to him, watching him closely.

“To my castle,” he announced proudly.

“Is it made of ice?” William asked without thinking.

Sebastian laughed heartily at the question. “Some of it is.”

“An ice castle… with an ice king…” he stated bemused, still not entirely believing he was really experiencing all of this.

“William, what kind of social gathering were you running from?” Sebastian asked as they made their way up a lonely mountain that jutted out away from the rest, following an icy path.

William finished his hot chocolate and held the still warm mug against his stomach, enjoying the feeling. “Well… I just turned 19 years old. My parents were hoping that I’d, well…” he paused, drumming his fingers against the mug, “pick a girl to eventually… marry and have a child with.”

Sebastian blinked a few times. “Are you a prince?”

William sputtered. “Oh! Oh no, no, no, I’m not royalty. My family is just… well, they really want to keep the business and money in the family. My mother hasn’t been able to have a child since me and so… well…” He drifted off, feeling a bit of shame.

“I’m all they have…”

Sebastian nodded slowly. “I see, and let me guess, you have no desire to marry any of these ladies? Don’t love any of them?” He asked.

William shifted slightly, hugging the fur coat slightly. “Oh, I could care less about whether I ‘love’ them or not. Love is just a chemical reaction to push two people to mate. It’s simply, well… I would always resent having to marry the girl, whoever she is… the idea of sleeping with some woman to ensure I have an heir...” He wrinkled his nose, looking disgusted at the thought. “And I don’t particularly care for children to begin with, but to bring them into a life like that…” He furrowed his brows. “I’m not _that_ cruel.”

William hadn’t the slightest why he was opening himself up so much to this man, he almost felt compelled to. He hadn’t figured it out so far, and didn’t particularly intend to.

Sebastian placed a finger under William’s chin and turned him to face him. His hand felt cold to the touch, yet William somehow felt a warmth inside him at the contact. “If it makes you feel better, I don’t much like children either.” He smiled warmly.

William studied his face for a minute before raising an eyebrow in amusement. “I’m glad you understand.”

“They’re troublesome, and they really do change your whole life. Not to mention how _dependent_ they are,” Sebastian announced, moving his hand to rest on William’s shoulder.

“Exactly! I don’t want to be responsible for a _child_ . I can’t even handle the amount of attention a _dog_ needs.” William almost felt relieved, someone was validating his thoughts - he had never known before if he was being selfish or weird before.

“I _detest_ dogs for the very reason of dependency. I much prefer cats.”

William nodded in agreement. “Oh yes, cats are rather self sufficient.” He looked off the side of the mountain dreamily. “I’ve always liked birds as well.”

Sebastian chuckled. “What kind of bird is your favorite?” He rested his head on the palm of his hand as he gazed at William, his hair was whipped out of its proper form by the wind whipping by them as the horses strode quickly. William looked back at him. “Oh, I suppose I do love pigeons or doves. They’re very lovely birds.”

Sebastian smirked. “Doves… are you sure you’re not a prince? You truly sound like one.”

William shook his head with a slight laugh. “No, I’m not, I promise.”

As they rounded a corner, William nearly forgot to breathe as he laid eyes on a glorious castle perched on the mountain side that had just come into view. They galloped towards it. He gazed at the tall pure white towers that he could barely make out as having a slightly silver lining in some places. They reached up high into the sky, standing proudly against winter’s cold winds. Some of the towers, as well as the rest of the castle itself, did indeed have sheets of ice that curled around its form. The crystal-like shapes seemed to continue or fix parts of the original castle that had broken, perhaps from a battle? He wasn’t sure. It looked to be right out of a story book. William unintentionally leaned forward, trying to take it all in.

“It’s fantastic…” William stated unconsciously.

Sebastian’s face seemed to light up slightly, and he raised his head proudly.

“Of course it is.”

They rode up to the massive gates, completely made of ice. Sebastian waved his hand, and William watched in amazement as the gates opened completely on their own. In front of the castle doors, the sleigh stopped, and they both stepped down. William craned his neck, squinting his eyes a little bit to look up at the castle as it stood imposingly before them. Massive, glorious.

Sebastian outstretched his arms, up and to the side and a grand gesture, and as soon as he did, William leapt back in shock as the doors immediately burst open, the cold air briefly swarming inside. The Ice King then turned to William and outstretched his hand to him.

“Come...”

William hesitated for a moment, he finally had a clearer head… it was strange that he was so willing to trust this man. A man who was a king yet seemingly lived in solitude in a large castle on a lonely mountain. He didn’t know him at all… yet something had made him feel so _relaxed_ -was it something in the drink, perhaps? William swallowed, still tasting that sweet chocolate in his mouth.

What did he have to lose, really? This man had been kind to him so far, and he’d rather not be alone in a snowy land, as wondrous as it was. He reached out and took Sebastian’s hand.

Sebastian gripped him tightly, smiling at him fondly, as he led him inside the castle, the doors creaking as they closed behind them.


	2. Sweetness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> William and the Ice King have much to talk about, they live in completely different worlds, yet they seem to relate to each other well.

William squinted, eyes trying to adjust to the sudden darkness. He followed Sebastian’s lead, walking carefully to avoid stepping on his translucent cape. He could make out some large statues. They were incredibly lifelike and detailed, made completely out of ice crystals. Great statues of kings and knights, beasts… all seeming in the middle of battle. William wondered if the Ice King liked collecting statues, there certainly were a lot of them strewn about on the large checkered floor.

They reached the steps of a great staircase. Each step was long and flat, made completely of black marble. Despite the surrounding debris, it still remained smooth and pristine. 

Walking up to the second floor, Sebastian began to speak, breaking the silence. “This castle has over 500 rooms. During your stay here, you’re welcome to wander, but it is incredibly easy to become lost, so it is safest not to go anywhere without me.” he spoke to William softly and soothingly. His voice itself was hypnotically calming.

“Five… hundred?” William asked, startled. He nodded knowingly, he would get lost easily. “What do you use them all for?”

Sebastian hummed, thinking about it. “I don’t use most of them, though I suppose they were used at one point.”

William sped up, walking beside Sebastian and eying him curiously, dying to know the castle’s history. “What happened? That it would all be abandoned and leave you on your own?” He asked curiously.

Sebastian stayed silent for a long moment, William was beginning to think he had greatly insulted him, when suddenly he looked back at him and began to speak.

“They feared me.”

William blinked. “Why?” he asked, a bit more unsure what he had gotten himself into.

Sebastian smiled and began his tale.

 

* * *

 

There was a once boy born with incredible powers.

The power to cause the very air around him to freeze

To bend and shape ice to his will

And to bring snowfall wherever he went.

However, the people of the land didn’t want the snow

Didn’t want the winter cold.

For it caused their crops to die 

And sickness to spread.

 

The boy was shunned from the beginning

No one wanted him

They said his heart was ice

And he could never love

That he was a cursed child that would only bring misfortune

 

The boy could make wonders out of ice

He was desperate to prove himself

To show his intentions were good

And prove how beautiful winter could be

 

Yet he was young, he couldn’t yet control his powers fully

With such passion, he created a snow storm, 

Meant to create a winter wonderland

Only for a short time

 

Instead he accidentally created a blizzard

His crying and guilt only made it worse

It picked up speed, covering the land in snow

And causing the people of the land to hide or flee desperately

 

The boy was once again left to live with his mistake

Many came to try and kill him

Destroy him for creating such a long winter

He wanted to end it,

But even if he could produce cold from thin air

He did not know how to end the eternal winter

 

So, the boy grew

In complete solitude save for the occasional knight

The boy unfortunately had to scare or chase away

And he still sits

In an abandoned castle

 

The lone King of Ice on a forsaken peak

 

* * *

 

William was a bit baffled about Sebastian telling his own history as if it popped straight out of a storybook, but perhaps that was just how people did it here. His heart sank. This man had been shunned and locked away without being listened to.

“Frankly, there have been many times I have been  _ very _ lucky not to have been killed. Many people want my head on a stake.”

William nodded slowly, taking a long, slow breath

“I don’t know if it means anything…” He paused, running his tongue across his lips unconsciously - they had become quite dry without him really noticing. “But I’ve always enjoyed winter more than summer.” He stood a bit closer to Sebastian. “I would look forward to the days where it would be snowed in… I wouldn’t have to go out, neither would my parents.” He looked off to the side, thinking about it. “It was the one time… well, nothing else mattered. Not grades, not social standing, not what others thought about us, not what the future held. We could forget about all of that and sit together in front of a warm fire, just talking,  _ really _ talking. Mother would make a mug of hot chocolate…” He smiled calmly at the memory. “And my father… he always insisted that it wasn’t good enough if it didn’t have several marshmallows and a peppermint stick involved.” His smile slowly faded as he thought of his parents. He had left so suddenly… and unexpectedly. Did they miss him? Were they thinking of him? 

He was ripped away from his train of thought by Sebastian patting his shoulder. He looked at him, being greeted with a calm smile. “It does mean a lot, thank you.”

William felt a certain kind of warmth fill his heart, the kind he got when he saw a sweet bird perched on a branch outside, or the sort of state he felt when he was at his calmest and could simply  _ let _ go of all the little things that occupied his mind. The thoughts of home and wanting to be there slipped out of his mind.

“I think we’re going to have a good relationship, William. Even if it’s only because you don’t come from around here, I’m grateful to have someone who doesn’t scream at the sight of my abilities,” Sebastian said appreciatively.

“Well… frankly, I would have thought I’d be more shocked at the idea of  _ any _ magic. We don’t have such a thing in my world. Still, that makes it even more despicable for you to have been attacked and abandoned in a place where magic  _ does _ exist.” He glared forward at nothing. It seemed even in fairytales there existed injustice.

Sebastian’s smile widened as they stopped in front of one of the hallway doors. William thought he looked a bit dastardly, but he knew he himself had the sort of face that looked incredibly unfriendly unintentionally.

“ _ That probably doesn’t help his case, _ ” William thought mournfully.

“Well, I’m glad you’re here then, William. I didn’t think anyone could ever remotely comprehend the  _ whole _ story.” He opened the door and led William in.

William unintentionally made an impressed huff as he looked around the room. A fireplace sat in the corner of the cobblestone room, and part of the floor was covered with a deep blue carpet that seemed to be woven with silver and gold. Atop the carpet was a bed covered with blankets and pillows, also in hues of silver and deep blue.

“I thought you’d probably need to sleep at some point, so I hope the room is to your liking,” Sebastian said proudly, seeing the look of wonder on William’s face.

“It’s beyond anything I could imagine,” William admitted, still looking around for a moment before looking back at Sebastian. “Thank you, you’ve been very kind to me.” 

Sebastian waved his hand, snowflakes dancing in the air around his fingertips as he did. “It’s no trouble at all. Besides, I’m very curious to know more about you and where you come from. Perhaps you’d like to freshen up and change out of those wet clothes and join me for dinner in an hour?” Sebastian offered in a sweet voice.

William nodded slowly. “Yes, I believe I would enjoy it.”

“Very well, I will leave you and return in an hour to collect you, hmm?” 

William nodded again. “Thank you, I’ll um… see you then, Sebastian.”

With that, Sebastian left William alone and William pulled the heavy door closed with a good amount of effort. Parts of it seemed made of iron, which only added to its weight. William remembered seeing such a door when touring an old castle with his family, of course, that thick door had been meant for keeping prisoners. He remembered shivering at the sight of the claw marks that had been made on one side of the door, as its occupants had tried desperately to escape the dark cage.

He turned and did indeed find a clean, dry set of clothing for him. It took him a little while to figure out, there were several layers, which, William was grateful for, as the air around him was still rather frigid. He had worn vests before, but this one was somewhere between a modern one and an old style, just as expected from a fantasy setting. It was a rather fair shade of pale blue, but it had laces in the back which, after a moment of fiddling, William found to have no real purpose as it just buttoned up normally. 

After he was dressed in the thicker clothing that was admittedly of high quality, he peered at himself curiously in the mirror. He nearly snickered. He did look a bit like a prince straight out of a book; though he didn’t think he quite fit the persona with his general attitude. Well, if he was stuck in a place that seemed like a dream, why not indulge a little bit? He slowly walked over to the bed, lightly pressing his hands on it before hopping on. He sighed deeply as he lightly sank into it. It was like what he imagined laying on a cloud would feel like. He lay down against the numerous pillows, enjoying the warmth and comfort he was enveloped in. He slowly closed his eyes, deciding to rest for a while until Sebastian returned.

He was jolted awake by a soft knocking on the door, he sat up and rubbed his eyes with a quiet yawn. He stood up and straightened himself out.

“Come in,” he uttered politely.

The door opened slowly, Sebastian walking through and not even touching it as it swung open. William noted he had also changed his attire since their last meeting. He had taken off his cape and crown. Now he was dressed a little humbler, with a simple top, a sheer blue, shining fabric making up the sleeves.

“You look very nice, I’m glad the clothing fit you, we seemed rather similar in our sizes.” He stepped closer to William.

“I… As do you, thank you. It fits very well.”

Sebastian once again offered his hand. “Shall we?” 

William took it this time without hesitation. He thought appreciatively that Sebastian was awfully kind and considerate for being rejected so much in his lifetime.  

They walked through the great halls until they arrived to a large open room with a great table, a delicious meal placed atop it. It seemed to be mostly made of meat and sweets and not so many vegetables, except for what he supposed was garlic and lettuce, a few plants that could grow  _ alright _ in cold weather.

William surprised himself as his stomach growled. He went red in the face, covering his stomach as he looked away in shame. “I… I’m sorry, I don’t believe I’ve eaten today.”

Sebastian laughed jovially. “Well then, sit and enjoy yourself then. You are my guest, after all.”

William sat in the seat Sebastian gestured to, beside him where he sat at the head of the table. The food was extremely rich and indulgent. 

“Well then William, what do you do for fun in your world?” Sebastian asked, eating slowly and casually, some of the food seeming to freeze before he put it in his mouth.

“Well… I enjoy reading. However, sometimes I like watching the television with my mother.”

Sebastian looked at him baffled. “What, pray tell is a  _ television _ ?”

William stopped. How  _ would _ one explain a television to someone who had never encountered advanced technology?

“Well it’s… something that plays back a recorded event for entertainment, typically.”

Sebastian tilted his head to the side. “How does it do that if you have no magic in your world?”

“Oh dear, how do I explain it…” William bit his lip, thinking long and hard. “Well, since we don’t have magic, we developed a way of living where we used science and technology to develop further…. Er… We found how to use electricity to our advantage.”

Sebastian nodded, still looking confused, but trying to understand. “Electricity?”

“Yes electricity… it’s…” He rubbed his hands together thoughtfully. “Like… lightning, lightning is electricity… I mean, we don’t use lightning  _ specifically _ but it’s a similar concept that has a lot of power. Or… if you walk across a carpet in socks and touch a doorknob, that little shock is static electricity…”

He began trying his best to explain the concept of power and electricity to Sebastian. He never thought he would use this information when he had been studying it, yet here he was.

He knew Sebastian still didn’t entirely understand what he was saying, but he managed to get the basic idea across. 

“Your world seems rather alien to me, William, I will admit.”

“I never thought I’d have to explain such things, so I’m probably not doing a good job,” he admitted bashfully. “If only I had…ah!”

He just remembered something, he reached into his pocket where he had put some of his belongings for the time being so he wouldn’t lose them. 

“This isn’t much but…” He pulled out his phone and placed it on the table. “I doubt it will last long since there is nothing here to charge it with… but…” He pressed the button, turning the phone on. It had no connection, of course, but it showed the time and the date it had last recorded. Sebastian’s eyes grew wide as he scooted to the other side of the table to get a closer look. 

“It erm.. well it’s a device that allows one to communicate with others over a large distance among other things.” He slid it open and entered his password. “I can’t do much with it here, but…” he turned it so the screen would be right-side up for Sebastian to see. “This is powered with electricity.

Sebastian curiously tapped the screen with his phone, shocked when the screen moved in reaction to his touch. 

“It’s alive?”

William laughed, "No it's not alive."

"I see... so this is temporarily "on" due to the power within it... but it will eventually die?" Sebastian asked, trying to understand.

"Yes! Exactly!"

Sebastian beamed proudly and was about to answer when the two of them heard the door in the main hall burst open and the clopping of hooves on the marble floor. Sebastian’s smile immediately faded, and he put a hand to his head sadly. “Really, can’t I be left alone for even a day?” He stood quickly, putting a hand on William’s shoulder and squeezing it. “Forgive me, I have someone attempting to put my head on a platter every day, I’ll be back.” He gave William a charming smile before walking out of the dining all, his crown reforming atop his head and his long cape billowing back out behind him as he marched triumphantly.

William stood curiously, hearing the shout from down the hall as a brave voice announced,“Ice King! You fiendish monster! I will strike you down where you stand for the misery you have brought upon the land!”

Sebastian’s voice boomed back, amplified by the massive halls. “Be gone! I have no quarrel with you!” 

William peeked his head out, looking down the hall. He saw frost crawling across the stone floor that slowed at his feet, obviously emanating from Sebastian. William started down the hall slowly, walking carefully as not to sleep on the thin sheet of ice. He peered out into the main hall, hiding carefully so he wouldn’t be seen. He did indeed see a knight in shining armor who had burst in on a noble steed, brandishing a longsword and a large shield. He saw Sebastian’s back. He stood tall and proud, not flinching at the Knight’s threats.

“Come down here and fight me like a  _ man _ .” 

Sebastian looked down his nose at the man’s threat. “I’m warning you…” He whipped his arm quickly through the air, shards of ice sent flying through the air, purposefully landing at the knight’s feet where they shattered and grew quickly into their own icy spikes. The knight jumped back a little bit, his horse whining in protest and rising on its hind legs slightly.

“You don’t scare me.” The knight furiously whipped his sword through the air, slicing through the icy spikes cleanly, showing the power of his weapon.

“Have it your way, then,” Sebastian conceded.

A fierce battle began, the knight barely dodging the ice and wind Sebastian conjured up. William watched intently: it was an easy victory for Sebastian. His heart ached. How many times had he needed to play the “intimidating villain” just so he’d be left alone?  Memories flashed in his head, reminded of the times he would find his glasses broken or his face pummeled with a fist no matter how much he pleaded or desperately wanted to know what he had done so wrong to make the other children hate him. Suddenly a bit a foreign movement caught William’s gaze. A glint of something metal. He looked down at the other side of the hall and saw another man dressed in a dark cloak with a bow and arrow in hand, perfectly aimed at the Ice King’s head. William swallowed heavily as his heart dropped into his chest, Sebastian didn’t see he was going to…!

Without thinking, William shot out from his hiding spot, somewhere deep down, hoping, somehow, that Sebastian would move. 

“Sebastian!” he shouted reaching towards him. 

The man fired the arrow. Sebastian was just whipping around, and almost as if in slow motion, saw the metal tip hurtling towards him - there was no way to stop it… yet suddenly, hot green flames intercepted the arrow, burning it to a crisp in midair.

Sebastian, the knight, and the archer all slowly looked toward William… who stood, looking shakily at his hand, where the very surge of intense power had emanated from.


	3. Electric

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This world has strange effects on outsiders, the emergence of William's abilities is only one small side effect.

The air felt electric from the sudden power that had just burst out from the new being in the room. The archer and the knight had stopped their attack, unsure of what to make of this new being who unleashed intense green flames that lashed out like a viper. William was just as shocked, if not more so, as everyone else.

The Ice King turned and looked at the archer, taking advantage of their shock and hitting the man with a shard of ice directly in the leg. The Knight let out a horrified yell and ran to him. He looked between the Ice King and William with a mix of fear and anger as he picked up his companion who was beginning to sob and cradle his bleeding leg.

“ _ Leave., _ ” Sebastian hissed.

The knight ran to his horse, running off as fast as he could out of the castle and soon disappeared in the snow storm. Sebastian sighed and crossed his arms, closing the massive doors with a wave of his hand. “They’ll be back, probably with more of them,” he mumbled in annoyance.

He then turned his attention to William, eyeing him, almost, with a deep glare.

“Do you know  _ how _ you did that?”

William looked at him shocked. “I… I certainly swear I do not know. I saw the arrow and I just…”

Sebastian’s face softened once again. “Well, first off, I suppose thanks are in order… that shot would have killed me,” he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck as his brows furrowed.

“I but… how was I..?”

Sebastian shook his head. “I’ve never heard of one who fell from the other world having powers or abilities. Some say this girl who melted a witch had special powers, but I’m almost certain that whole story has been  _ highly _ exaggerated over time.”

He took William’s hands, which had still been stuck out in front of him awkwardly in confusion. Sebastian stared into his eyes with a look that could have been either dastardly or excited, depending on where you stood with him. “Whatever the reason is, William, if you have this ability, we should encourage it. Even if it is not the same ability I possess, I could still teach you how to wield and control it…” He paused, looking off to the side, pursing his lips before looking back. “Well, as best as I know how to.”

William studied his face and bit the inside of his cheek apprehensively. “I… I don’t know…”

He had been gone for a while now, what about getting home? He had meant to hide, sure, but not to leave home forever. “Even with everything, I’d still like to get home. I must have caused my family a great deal of stress already.”

Sebastian pulled William’s gaze back to him by leaning in slightly. William shivered at the cold air that seemed to emanate out from Sebastian’s breath.

“I do not know how to find you your way back there, but there is no telling what your powers could reveal, besides, with that kind of heat…” He leaned in further, looking deep into William’s eyes. “You might find your way through the cold easier.”

William mulled it over for several moments. An idea then struck him suddenly. “Perhaps… I’d be able to help you undo the winter you accidently caused!” he noted encouragingly.

Sebastian closed his eyes and smiled sweetly. “It’s true, perhaps why I’m a bit biased towards you staying and learning.”

William nodded. “Well… I suppose it’s not like I can get home right now anyway. Very well.” He gripped Sebastian’s hands back, tightly. “I’ll stay, and learn how to use… whatever this is.”

Sebastian sighed happily. “Thank goodness. Well then, I believe we were in the middle of eating before we were rudely interrupted?”

William looked at Sebastian, finding a bit of growing friendly feeling towards the King. How long must it have been for him to have had someone to talk to? He smiled slightly, understanding. He didn’t often feel comfortable talking to other people on the best of days - it was incredibly isolating, yet with Sebastian… “Yes, I believe so.”

They walked back toward the dining hall, Sebastian leading William by placing a hand on his back. “So… tell me more about this electricity thing…”

Once again being lead through the dark chilled halls on the dawn of a new day, William sped up a little bit, following a bit closer to Sebastian.  _ “Just what use did all these rooms have?”  _ William wondered. Even if this castle had been once populated, he couldn’t imagine it being filled. Their slow, echoed footsteps were all that was heard as they walked in a calm silence.

They stepped over a large fallen pillar, coming into a room that was completely exposed to the hallway, the wall mostly destroyed. There were books strewn about and massive bookcases that had toppled over. William took careful steps not to step on the fallen literature, somewhat curious about what kind of knowledge of this world they carried within them.

William picked up a random book curiously as Sebastian began clearing an area in the center of the room. He pushed the debris away, blasting it with cold wind from his very fingertips. William smirked, “ _ That’s certainly one way to tidy up,” _ he thought as he opened the book in his hand to a random page.

The book fell open, a page being bookmarked by something. William lightly reached out and touched the object. It was a flower, flattened and slightly preserved by the book’s weight. Its petals were light purple in hue. He hummed, wondering slightly what the bell-like flower was.

Sebastian walked back over to him, having cleared a circle for their purposes. He tilted his head at the flower, noticing William’s intrigue.

“Wolfsbane” He said plainly. “Or aconite if you’re feeling fancy.” He mused.

“I see, fascinating.” William said as he placed the flower back in the book. The book itself seemed to be about curses or something. William lightly set it back where he found it and brushed off his hands, turning to give his attention to the Ice King.

“Now then, William. Usually these sorts of powers are either given or show up sometime soon after birth.” Sebastian slowly walked around William, making the slender man suddenly feel a bit uncomfortable. “You’re certainly a special case.”

“Special. Great, just what I’ve always wanted to be,” William grumbled sarcastically.

“Being special is good isn’t it? It often means you’re the main character in your story.”

“Main character, honestly.” William shook his head. “I don’t know about that, but ‘special’ denotes neither good nor bad, yet it is certainly not  _ average _ .”

Sebastian’s chest rumbled with a deep chuckle. He took William’s arm and led him into the middle of the circle he created.

“Now then William, if we can get you to light a candle, I’d be eternally grateful. I can’t see to read or make my clean-up efforts completely neat. Me and fire don’t exactly go together in case you couldn’t tell.”

“I would have never guessed.” William teased. Looking down at his hands, he furrowed his brows. “How am I exactly supposed to…”

“Concentrate, you might be unlucky enough for your powers to be run by emotion, which can make it all the more difficult to learn how to use them in the first place.”

William frowned. It would not suit him to be outwardly emotional, did he have to? Uncertain, he raised his eyebrows at Sebastian.

“Alright…”

William stood staring forward awkwardly, shuffling his feet for several moments before Sebastian finally spoke again.

“Feeling anything?”

“I’m feeling  _ something _ , but probably not what I’m supposed to,” William replied with a frustrated grumble.

“Hmm…” Sebastian hummed as he strode to William’s side, setting a cold hand on his waist. William might have normal felt a bit uncomfortable with the touch, but he supposed perhaps Sebastian was trying to help him. Some sort of wise-king advice would be appreciated.

Then, suddenly, a cold blast of air hit William’s ear. A surprised cross between a gasp and a yell came from him as he leaped away from Sebastian.

“ _ Did that ass just blow in my ear!?” _

Briefly, their faces were illuminated by a green glow, something had just lit up, hovering in the air between them for a split second before disappearing entirely. A brief spark of warmth in the dead cold.

“Curious!” Sebastian announced proudly as if William was some sort of science project.

William rubbed his ear, trying to warm it up again. “You could have  _ warned _ me you were going to pull something like that!”

“Well, your powers are mostly based on subconscious instinct right now, it tends to start off that way.” The Ice King put his hand to his chin, taking extreme pleasure out of how uncomfortable William appeared to be.

With a huff, William turned away from the Ice King. Looking up at the unused chandelier adorned with red candles overhead that remained intact despite the surrounding ruin. He thought maybe… just maybe, if he glared at it hard enough, he could light the candles. He clenched his fists - he’d rather not have cold wind blown in his ear again. There was nothing, absolutely nothing but silence. William briefly glanced at Sebastian whose face was adorned with an indulgent smirk.

“ _ Is he laughing at me?! He thinks this is just hilarious, doesn’t he?” _ His eyes shot back to the candles, invigorated with determination.

Then, suddenly, all the wicks on each of the little candles flared up, illuminating the previously dark barren room in a warming, threatening light green.

William blinked in surprise and Sebastian clapped his hands together triumphantly.

“Wonderful, William! You’ll be bending that power to your will in no time,” he praised the ebony haired man proudly.

William stood just a little taller and pushed his glasses up his nose. “Well, I suppose it’s an  _ interesting  _ skill to have. If I’m going to be around you, I suppose it’d be good if I could keep a heat source with me at all times.”

Sebastian leaned in closer to William, making the man tilt back a bit and stiffen up. “They say opposites attract, but truly, what are the odds?” Sebastian mused. Despite being the same height as William, it suddenly felt as if the Ice King was immensely taller than him.

“I can’t say that I know…” William tugged at his collar, swallowing heavily and feeling a bit warm despite himself. He looked away from Sebastian’s gaze, laughing softly to himself. “Goodness… what would Mother think if she knew I was playing with fire and hanging about an ice king?”

His mother would surely…. Now that he thought of it, what would his mother think? William’s smile slowly faded as he began to think a little deeper about it.

“My mother…” he mumbled out loud. Sebastian’s smile suddenly turned to a look of disapproval.

What did his mother look like? He heard a bleary voice of what he imagined a mother to sound like playing in a broken memory. What about his father? He had a father, didn’t he?

His stomach churned violently, the realization dawned on him.

 

_ He had nearly forgotten his parents. _

 

It was absurd! He remembered remembering them just yesterday!

 

“Something wrong, William?” the Ice King asked innocently.

 

“I… can't remember my family,” William uttered in horror. “I don’t know how I knew them just the other day, just this morning, in fact!”

Sebastian frowned and peered at his nails, more interested in them than William’s plight. “Who needs family anyway? If you can’t remember them, it must not be a  _ huge _ loss then.”

William’s head whipped towards him, about to snap at the King, but he held himself back. 

“ _ He’s never had a family really, he was abandoned. Of course he wouldn’t understand. _ ” he thought, calming himself.

“We didn’t always see eye to eye, but I never wanted to  _ forget _ them.” He bit his lip, looking off towards the massive gap in the wall, then back to Sebastian. He moved towards the king, somewhat desperately. 

“Surely you can do something? How on earth could I...”

Sebastian held up his hand, stopping Will’s panicked rambling. “Any outsiders who come here have the tendency to forget things from their old life. However, usually they don’t forget something  _ important _ right away. Are you quite sure they meant  _ that _ much to you?”

“I…” William started, then stopped suddenly, thinking on it.

_ Were _ they that important? Surely they must have been, they were his parents. He tried to retrace his steps - he knew he had them, what was the last thing he remembered them doing? 

“ _ They were shouting at me, because I didn’t want to be married, and that’s how I ended up here _ .” 

He remembered that pretty clearly at least. They  _ had _ been forcing him to marry, maybe they hadn’t been that important. For all he knew, he might have been adopted by these vaguely remembered people. He had told Sebastian a nice story about them yesterday, he knew that. They couldn’t have been  _ that _ bad. Yet still… he could only vaguely remember their existence. 

“I suppose they must have not been…” He trailed off, then a lightbulb went off in his head. He looked up at the ice king who didn’t seem bothered or worried in the least. He knew William would start forgetting things, why hadn’t he said something before? 

“Why didn’t you tell me?!” he accused, inadvertently raising his voice.

“Hmm… tell you what?” Sebastian asked nonchalantly. 

“That I would start  _ forgetting  _ things if I stayed here?” he hissed.

“Oh…” Sebastian furrowed his brows and made a sort of demeaning cooing noise as he touched William’s cheek. The gesture had made his heart pound previously, but now it felt sick and slimy. “Well, if I had told you that, you might have panicked, run, and gotten yourself hurt. I had your best interests in mind.”

William slapped Sebastian’s hand away and backed up. He didn’t much appreciate being coddled like he was some sort of injured animal. “Don’t give me that, you should have told me, why I would have…”

“Would have… what, William?” The Ice King once again seemed a lot taller, as his gaze towards William narrowed. The flames on the chandelier began to fade, making the room a lot darker once more. “When I found you, you were lost, out in the middle of the cold with nowhere to go. I helped you, did I not? If I were not to be trusted, I would have frozen you there on the spot or left you out there to  _ die _ . Is that what you want, William?” 

William tensed, leaning back away from Sebastian as guilt started to seep into his stomach. Sebastian’s dark booming voice left him feeling… insignificant. He looked away from Sebastian’s intense gaze. “I’m sorry I just… I was startled. You’re right.”

Sebastian sighed deeply, calming himself. The flames flared up again, taking them out of the dark. “ _ Please _ trust me, William. I mean you no harm.” 

William slowly looked back at him sheepishly. Sebastian lightly grabbed his shoulders and pulled him closer. “Usually people don’t forget this quickly, as far as I know. There’s nothing I can do at the moment, William. I’m rather powerful, but I have no idea how or why portals from your world to ours open up. I simply didn’t want you to stress or feel miserable over it.”

He wrapped one arm around William’s shoulders, causing the man to shiver. He furrowed his brows, his judgment still telling him he should be worried.

Sebastian held up his hand, and opened it, revealing a small round chocolate in the middle of his palm. “ _ Relax _ , William, let’s put this little scuffle behind us, hmmm?”

William gazed at the simple little offering. Something inside of him, in the pit of his stomach wanted him to run. Yet, there was nowhere for him to go, the Ice King had been so kind to him. A thought in the back of his head emerged suggesting that it was a bad idea to trust him - he had only known this man for a little over a day now. Should he really give up and surrender to him? He swallowed hard, feeling the man massaging William’s shoulder lightly in a comforting gesture.

William let out a long breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding and lightly took the offering. “I apologize, I’m being paranoid,” he admitted and slowly popped the sweet treat in his mouth out of gratitude. It was incredibly rich and heavenly, just as expected.

Sebastian smiled. “Good… I’d hate to loose the first companion I’ve had in a long time over a simple misunderstanding.”

William’s heart sped up, the feeling of Sebastian’s touch being “slimy” and “uncanny” disappearing. “I’d have to say the same.” Even if he had only known the ice king for a short amount of time, he couldn’t recall a friendly face even in his own world. There was only Sebastian.

\---

 

They practiced most of the day, William lighting small things on fire or trying to see if he could hold a steady flame. The took breaks only for meals. After the sun had completely set, William had gained enough confidence to light a wick or start a fire in a fireplace with just the smallest of intention. It started  to feel… natural as he called on the ability throughout the day. Sebastian praised him greatly for his accomplishment. Sebastian gave him another warm hot chocolate after dinner as a reward of sorts for all his effort.

“ _ I could get used to this… _ ” William thought to himself as he sipped the drink, relaxing into his seat. He looked at the now empty plates of food from dinner on the table. As he gazed at them, he thought of something ha hadn’t before.

“Sebastian… you have trouble with fire, and there’s no one else here, yes?” William asked curiously.

“Yes, why?” Sebastian leaned forward on the table, clasping his hands together and giving William his full attention.

“Then how on earth do you have… food on the table that has been cooked and drinks that are thoroughly warmed?”

“Ghosts,” Sebastian said simply.

William blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Ghosts. Can’t you seem them?” Sebastian stated with a grin.

“Uh… n… no?” William said in disbelief.

Sebastian suddenly laughed. “Haha! Oh dear, I’m sorry. I couldn’t resist seeing your face. Simply, it’s an incredibly simple spell to conjure up food. Even for a king of ice, conjuring up food if you have any magical ability of any type is incredibly easy.”

William rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair. “Oh right.”

“No, no, there are no such things as ghosts, that would be ridiculous!” Sebastian laughed again. “I’ll teach you how to do it eventually. It’s very easy.”

“Well,  _ thank _ you,” William uttered feeling thoroughly duped.

Sebastian chuckled. “It’s so fun to see you confused, William.” He got up and moved to a chair next to William, leaning close to him. The more awkward man shifted uncomfortably, looking away from Sebastian’s gaze.

“You don’t smile a lot, do you? I mean, I  _ have _ seen you smile, but you seem to naturally frown. Why is that?” he asked, making idle conversation.

“I don’t know. I’ve been told I have ‘resting bitch face’. It’s just how I look, I suppose,” he grumbled.

“How rude!” Sebastian mused. “I think you have a very handsome face, well maybe not as amazing as  _ mine _ , but still pretty good.”

William snorted. “Thank you.” He looked deep into his drink. William suddenly had the odd thought that, if Sebastian had been one of the choices for his ‘forced marriage’, he might have at least considered it. He told himself that it was purely out of feelings of friendship. “ _ You’re being ridiculous William, you’re only feeling this way because you haven’t opened up before. You  _ **_barely_ ** _ know this man, and you're not into men anyway… right? _ ” he thought absentmindedly.

“Sebastian, you kept asking me if I was a prince… are there many of them in this world?”

“Oh yes, princes and princesses are highly revered. You still strike me as one of them simply with how you carry yourself. You are certain you don’t come from  _ any _ royalty?”

William shook his head with a slight smile. “Not in my immediate family, at least. I think just about everyone has a bit of royal blood in them at some point in their lineage. So even if I’m distantly related to royalty, it’s not much to brag about.” 

“Well, if for whatever reason you decided to remain here, you’d make a good one. Er… just don’t try to cut off my head like the rest of them. That would be most appreciated,” Sebastian joked.

William inadvertently leaned a little closer to Sebastian. “Well, if somehow that ends up happening, I’d rather fight for you than against you… for what it’s worth.”

Sebastian took William’s hand, Sebastian’s cold grip quickly cooled William’s warm one. “That’s sweet, William.”

William grumbled, his face growing warm. “There’s nothing sweet about it. I simply feel as if I should repay your kindness is all…”

“Sure, Will.”

As soon as William finished his hot chocolate, Sebastian led him back to his room. When the large door closed behind him and Sebastian left him alone, William sighed deeply. As he walked to the bed, he flicked his wrist and lit the fire in the fireplace. It burned solidly without wood or coal. He sat atop the cushy bed and removed his day-garments. As soon as he was bed ready, he fell back on the bed contently, surrendering himself to the warm embrace the layers of blankets provided him.


	4. Captured

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Don't trust strangers, kids.

A week passed. William’s training was going well. He could now hold a flame in his hand for a solid five minutes before he lost it again. The halls were beginning to be completely lit up as William would light every candle or torch he passed by.

“Wonderful! Now I won’t be constantly tripping over everything,” Sebastian announced with a laugh.

William found himself laughing along with him. “Well, that’s certainly a relief. Though you carry yourself so well, I can’t imagine you ever falling over.”

“Oh, that’s only because I’m extra careful around you.” He lightly flicked William’s shoulder playfully and smirked.

“How flattering.”

Sebastian laughed for a moment, then crossed his arms a bit more seriously. “Now, William… I must admit, I’d be terribly sad if you left.” He frowned sadly in emphasis, shaking his head woefully.

William looked at Sebastian in confusion. “Why would I…?” he started, about to ask why he would want to leave, not knowing where he would go. His heart suddenly sank as an echo of a memory slipped into his mind. “ _ Home, _ ” he thought. He had told Sebastian many lovely stories about it, but he didn’t really remember it! Fear suddenly coursed through his veins. He hadn’t felt this fear of losing himself in several days, but once again, it came suddenly and viciously. He forgotten  _ nearly everything  _ about himself save for his name. He knew the children in school tortured him… his mother loved him. Or did she? He didn’t know, not anymore.

“I have to go…” William suddenly announced, backing away. He had the sudden panicked thought that maybe if he found some way back, maybe even on accident, he would remember everything. “I have to go home!” 

Sebastian’s face suddenly seemed dangerously blank. “We’ve been over this… I have no way to…”

“NO!” William suddenly found himself shouting. “I have to get out… maybe if we get out of here  _ now _ then maybe…”

“You are not going anywhere.” Sebastian practically growled his words. He was not merely requesting William remain, he was  _ commanding _ it.

William looked at him, shocked - he hadn’t expected such hostility. Backing away from the Ice King, his gaze shifted to the hallway, wondering how fast he could run away.

Sebastian caught his action, knowing exactly what he was planning in an instant.

“I have to go home or else… I’ll forget everything!”

A sick grin spread across Sebastian’s face, and the ice that constantly covered his skin seemed to become more obvious. His complexion wound up looking less like pure white and more like a rotten, dead blue. “You  _ are _ home, William.”

William’s heart stopped. The room temperature had dropped several degrees, and the wind outside picked up, a haunting creaking sound echoing throughout the castle in response.

He couldn’t stay there anymore, so he bolted, running for his life, running for the sake of his last memories that he desperately trying to hold onto. He knew he had almost  _ wanted _ to forget at one point, but now he wanted nothing more than to see his mother and father’s face, to know them and what they would look like. A wall of ice appeared in front of him, blocking the hallway. He didn’t slow, running towards it in determination. With only the swipe of his hand rapidly through the air, bright green flames erupted around him, not only melting a hole in the ice but causing the water to turn into steam before it could even drip down and form a puddle. Sebastian didn’t seem to stop him after that. 

William, still feeling the surge of incredible power born of his fear, caused the massive front doors to nearly fly off their hinges as he passed through the exit. The intense blizzard outside slapped him in the face, nearly causing him to stop in his tracks right then and there. Yet still, he gathered himself and continued, running into the blizzard, barely able to see at all. The further he ran away, the stronger the winds became, he might have begun to sob, but he feared for what would happen if his terrified tears froze. The winds became so strong and so cold, he slowed, barely able to move, his glasses were whipped off his face, flying god knows where. He sank to his knees weakly, curling around himself shivering madly in the bitter snow. Darkness was beginning to shoud his vision. A last little memory flickered in his mind… he heard a whisper, a woman's voice.

“ _ I’m so proud of you, William…” _

The blizzard snow began to cover him, burying him alive. 

“ _ Mom… dad… I’m sorry, I’m so… sorry…”  _ he sobbed with his last ounce of strength.

\---

William stirred, surrounded by warmth. Warm bed sheets wrapped around him. When he opened his eyes, he was met with a blurry room and a blurry figure sitting beside his bed.

“ _ What happened? _ ” he thought to himself. The memories had come flowing back to him. He had been running. He was puzzled with himself however -why had he ran? He then remembered, Sebastian had startled him.

His glasses were suddenly slid on his face. He saw Sebastian hovering over him with a smile on his face. “Ah, good. You’re awake, I was beginning to worry.”

“Sebastian?” William started trying to sit up quickly.

“Shh… not so fast, you  _ did _ nearly freeze to death.”

William lay back down slowly, feeling his head spinning. After sighing and shutting his eyes for a minute, he bit his lip, guilt overtaking him.

“Sebastian, I don’t know what came over me - I got frightened or something, I…” He looked at Sebastian, heart sinking when he saw the look on his face.

He looked like a puppy that had just been hit. He sighed deeply and looked away. “Of course you were… everyone is,” he uttered under his breath.

“No! Sebastian, I’m… I’m sorry. I just…” William tried to reach out to him. He couldn’t believe himself, this man had been abandoned so many times! It was no wonder he had reacted so intensely.

Sebastian sighed and turned to William with a sad smile. “Well, I suppose I did loose my temper. The thought of you leaving had me on edge.”

William sat up again and put his hands on top of Sebastian’s. “No, I won’t leave! Please forgive me, yes, I was scared, but I don’t truly know why I wanted to leave so badly.” He leaned towards Sebastian, desperate not to make him feel rejected.

Sebastian raised an eyebrow and looked at him. “You wanted to go home, William.”

William looked puzzled. “ _ But… where else would I go? _ ” he wondered. Sebastian was all he had ever known. He did have a gap in his memory… “But I am home Sebastian,” he spoke slowly, unsure of the statement, yet it felt oddly  _ right _ . 

Sebastian’s gaze turned a little darker as he stared into William’s vibrant green eyes. “Are you sure about that, William?”

William tried to think, he really couldn’t remember anything past the point he had first seen Sebastian’s face. He squinted. “ _ Wait… perhaps… _ ” He remembered a speck of something. A voice? A sound? A taste? “Sebastian… where was I before you?” he asked.

Sebastian held William’s hand. “You’re a prince William.”

“I am?” William blinked, completely baffled. “But I was sure…”

“You always deny it, but I’ve kept trying to suggest it, hoping you would remember.”

William nodded slowly. “Oh… so, do I have a familly?”

Sebastian shook his head sadly. “I’m afraid that during the last great war, your parents as well as your kingdom was attacked and, well… your parents were desperate to make sure you survived. You were born with such special abilities, after all.” 

“Yes, I suppose.”

He  _ had _ told Sebastian stories of his family, he had wanted to go “home”, he recalled. 

“What you must have seen had to have been traumatic, I don’t know the details, but you looked so lost when I found you…”

“ _ Sebastian was trying to protect me then! That’s why he was so firm! He didn’t want me to leave him and get hurt if that’s the case,” _ he thought. He did have an incredibly vague memory of a mother’s soothing voice, yet he didn’t know the words the voice spoke, or the face it was connected to. 

“Sebastian I’m sorry… I didn’t know…”

In response, Sebastian chuckled gloomily. “No, of course you don’t. Simply, when I thought something bad might happen to you,” he paused, biting his lip and avoiding William’s eyes, “I suppose I panicked!” he exclaimed.

William’s heart fluttered slightly - it was a completely foreign feeling to him.

“It won’t happen again,” he said, firmly adjusting his glasses.

Sebastian smiled at William cheerily. “I’m sure it won’t,” he lightly pushed William back down against the bed, pulling the covers back up over him, “now rest, Will.”

William contently removed his glasses, and turned over to sleep on his side, completely at ease as Sebastian watched him fall into a deep slumber.

 

\---

 

When he awoke, the Ice King was nowhere to be found. He rubbed his eyes, yawning and grabbing for his glasses.

Having regained his vision, he saw a note on the bedside table. He picked it up, reading the letters on the page. Sebastian’s handwriting was incredibly fancy and loopy, so he had a bit of trouble making out exactly what he was saying.

 

“William, I’ve gone out to run a quick errand. So you don’t get lost, I’ve marked the pathway from your room to the kitchen. I left some warm food for you, should you get hungry. If you decide to go exploring, mark yourself a path. I found a new room just yesterday, and I’ve lived here for years. 

Hope you’re feeling better,

Sebastian Michaelis”

 

William nodded and set the letter to the side, getting out of bed. 

“ _ Well, I suppose now I know his last name,” _ he thought.

He dressed and warmed himself by lighting his fireplace. After he was sufficiently warmed, he wandered into the hall, immediately finding the obvious path of ice Sebastian had left for him.

His footsteps echoed back at him with each step he took. Occasionally he looked to the ceiling. The hall was massive, he guessed the ceiling had to be at least 15 feet above him. He casually waved his hand, easily lighting some of the half-frozen torches as he passed. The green flickering light made some of the ceiling carvings above look like slithering snakes. 

He fed himself quietly, indulging in the lovely meal Sebastian had left for him. He thought excitedly about one day being able to produce such things himself. He wondered how anyone got food without magic - it seemed like it would be difficult in the snow to grow food or raise animals. Perhaps that was why he hadn’t seen anyone else.

He began wandering the halls, using the torches to mark where he was going. The castle seemed even  _ bigger _ than it had before. He hadn’t really noticed as much before, his attention had always seemed to follow the Ice King. He passed numerous icy statues, laid about in odd places. He stopped and peered at a crystalline statue of a king holding a young queen. Both of their eyes were shut in terror; the queen cowering in the king’s arms. 

William found himself thinking about Sebastian. He stood and wondered when he might be back, where he had gone, and if he would be okay. He continued to walk down the hall, his thoughts not quite ridding themselves of the man. 

He curiously looked in another gap in the wall of the hallway that had fallen away. The room on the other side seemed to have been a bedroom at some point. He saw a rather massive wardrobe. Mesmerized, he walked up to it, stepping over bits of rubble. He lightly touched its handle, hesitating for a moment before pulling it open.

Inside was a row of coats and capes that looked as if they belonged to royalty. Then, William was almost certain he heard something, a whisper, coming from inside the wardrobe. A voice, he swore, was crying.

“ _ Where could he have gone?” _ he heard faintly. He leaned forward, parting the coats curiously. He saw… another row of coats. He shrugged and shut the wardrobe door, deciding it was just his imagination.

When he heard the massive doors in the main hall open, he nearly ran to the front. a bit of excitement over-taking his usual reserve. He expected to see Sebastian, but instead he was met with a young, blonde-haired man. He was on foot and looked incredibly lost. Notably, he seemed to wear a blue cape and silver light-armor and had a golden crown atop his head. As soon as he saw William, he put an alarmed hand on his sword. William took a few steps away in confusion.

“Who are you?” the man asked William.

“Who are  _ you?” _ William bit slightly in reply. This was probably another scoundrel here to try and kill the Ice King.

“I am a Prince of the Kingdom in the North. I won’t tell you more, names are power, you know,” he said firmly.

William crossed his arms. “I am  _ also _ a prince. Is your intention to kill the Ice King?”

The prince looked at William, then at the door he had opened. His eyes widened, seemingly coming to a revelation. “AH! I see! You heard me come in and realized you might have a chance to escape!” he declared.

“What? I… look, the Ice King isn’t here so…”

“Isn’t here? Then this is perfect! Don’t you worry, fair prince, I will make  _ sure _ you are escorted to safety!”

William blinked in disbelief. This man didn’t seem to the kind of voice to carry knightly speech, yet seemed to do it anyway. “I well.. no, you see…” he tried to explain.

Yet suddenly, the prince ran to him before he could register the action and took his hand. “Come, I’ll be your hero,” the prince said with an over-confident tone and a wink. It caused William to shiver, but not in a good way.

“No, you don’t understand,  _ unhand _ me!” he commanded. “Please listen, I do not need to be sa- _ AHH!” _ The prince suddenly took William into his arms, carrying him bridal style. Which was quite the sight to see. William was much taller than the prince so he was already awkward to hold. William tried to push him away with a displeased grunt, he felt very silly in this position.

The prince ran out the doors with him into the currently calm snow. He saw the prince’s brown and white spotted horse right before he was awkwardly tossed onto it, the horse whinnied in protest as the prince hopped on behind William, trapping the poor man. 

“For the last time you ninny,  _ unhand _ me!”

“Aww, stop complaining, Buttercup.”

“ _ What  _ did you just call me?!” William growled.

“Oh no, not you… I was talking to my horse.”

“ _ Oh _ ,” William snarled.

“But I  _ can _ call you that if you want,” the prince said flirtatiously, trying and failing to be smooth.

“I’m fine, thanks. But look, you must listen,” he began as the prince lead the horse down the mountain. “I am  _ not _ a captive, I am  _ with _ the Ice King  **_willingly_ ** !” he enunciated very clearly.

The prince pulled on the reins, causing the the horse to stop in its tracks.

He forced William to look at him, his eyes wide in shock. “Are you  _ insane?! _ ”

William grumbled and pushed his hand away. “I am not  _ insane _ , and you have  _ kidnapped  _ me.”

“ _ Kidnapped? _ HA! A prince doesn’t kidnap another prince, they only save them… and stuff.”

William scoffed at the prince’s lack of vocabulary. “Why would a prince go around saving other princes?”

“Man, are you a prince from another  _ planet _ ? Princes and princesses get captured all the time by evil-doers and dragons and stuff, it’s up to other princes trained in the ways of combat to go save ‘em!” He raised his arm and boldly flexed to prove his point. “Er… not that you can’t be captured even if you're strong like me. I’ve been captured a couple times,” he admitted. 

“How  _ dreadful, _ ” he said sarcastically, not concerned with whatever the blonde prince had to say. “However, I am  _ not _ in distress, as I’ve already stated. So  _ please _ let me go.”

“Don’t you get it? I don’t know what he did to you, but the Ice King is  _ evil _ . E-V-I-L,” the prince proclaimed, exasperated. 

“He is  _ not _ evil. And it is very close minded to define anyone as entirely good or evil. If you actually took the time to know him instead of trying to lob his head off then maybe you’d…”

“What, I’d  _ understand _ him? Look buddy, I think we all understand him a little more than we’d all like.”

William glared at him. “What has he ever done to you? He can’t control this winter even if he  _ wanted _ to.”

The prince looked at him for a long moment then broke out into laughter. “Oh my  _ god _ , you’re  _ serious _ .” 

William shrank uncomfortably as the big-mouthed man laughed in his face. The prince wiped a tear from his eye and looked at him a bit more seriously after a little bit.

“Look, you seem like a good guy… but the Ice King has  _ obviously _ done something to your head. His heart is  _ frozen _ . If he felt something like a normal human being at some point, he  _ can’t _ anymore. His heart is literally turned to ice. That kind of magical power comes at a price, you know. Cruelty and wickedness eats away at the heart. The lure of power is a  _ curse _ . Real power is  _ earned _ . Good magic stems from good deeds or great acts of sacrifice and bravery.” The prince shook his head. “For a man to be able to cast an eternal winter and control ice in such a way… only a certain kind of person would willingly enter a cursed life.”

William couldn’t believe what the prince was saying. Sebastian  _ wasn’t  _ evil. He had shown kindness and care to William when he had been lost. He had helped him in every respect. Someone who had spent that much time caring for him out of the goodness of his heart couldn’t be the kind of person the silver prince was describing. He stared back at the prince wordlessly, confused, bewildered. Sebastian had shown kindness and remorse, therefore, he couldn’t be incapable of emotion!

“You’re wrong. He’s good, just…”

The prince scoffed. “What, missunderstood? Believe me, every baddie is the same. It’s not  _ them _ who is wrong for causing misery for the sake of personal gain. It’s always  _ someone _ else’s fault,” he mocked. “‘Ooooh my parents didn’t love me’, ‘No one understaaaands me’, ‘I stubbed my toe when I was twelve, it’s the world that is cruel,  _ not me _ .’” The prince’s hands tightened around his reigns. “They see evil everywhere except within. Everyone can be selfish, cruel, or greedy, but beings like him are on a whole other level. Their hearts are cursed, it makes them powerful, but trust me… if they live a cursed life, lobbing off their head is doing them a favor.”

“What a  _ horrid _ thing to say! To sentence someone to death simply because they are…” He paused, biting his lip.

“Different?” the prince finished. “Ha! Different is getting to see spring and not be stuck eating potatoes all the time,  _ him _ … he’s a  _ monster _ .”

William glared at the man angrily. There was simply no reasoning with this guy!

The man sighed, looking off the side of the mountain - the wind was starting to pick up. He turned back to William with a hardened gaze.

“If you don’t believe me, fine. I’ll take you back. A prince isn’t one to take another prince away unwillingly, but you need to do something for me.”

William grumbled, but kept his composure, at least he was getting  _ somewhere _ . “What is it?”

“You need to kiss him.”

“W- _ what?!” _ William sputtered awkwardly.

“Kiss him. Any curse can be broken with a kiss from a true love.”

Willaim nearly choked on the air around him in embarrassment, finding it hard to breathe. “Honestly, just what makes you think that I’m…”

“The way you talk about him, how you look off when you’re thinking about him. I’d say you’ve got a 99.9% chance of being his true love. So… if he’s really cursed… whether you believe he’s malicious or not, it will break the curse on him. See how he reacts.”

William swallowed hard. It was such an odd thing to talk about… but if it would get the prince to take him back to the Ice King’s castle, he’d say about anything. “Fine. I will  _ attempt _ to kiss him. Just to prove my point,”he said.

The prince nodded and started riding quickly back to the castle. “Alright… but look, if you end up feeling like you’re in danger, just sing something, okay?”

“Why would I  _ sing _ if I’m in trouble?”

The prince smiled. “Anyone with a soothing voice can call animals to their aid. It’s a good way to call people in the area to attend to you.”

William rolled his eyes. “Great, how utterly foolish.”

The prince furrowed his brows. “He really has rotted your brain.”

The reached the castle gates, and the prince let William climb off his horse, ‘Buttercup’.

The winter wind grew even stronger, the makings of a blizzard in motion. “He’s coming…” the prince mumbled, looking at the surrounding air. “I’m outta here. Good luck prince-y.” With that, he turned his horse and ran off out of sight, leaving William somewhat disoriented as he went back inside the castle, the whole experience seeming bizarre and out of place.

He crossed his arms and grumbled, thinking only of the nerve of that moron to act as if he was being foolish. “ _ Kiss him? Hah! Why would I…” _ The image of kissing the Ice King suddenly invading his thoughts. His first thought was that it would be like kissing something metal. He inwardly laughed at the idea of getting stuck to him because of how cold his skin was. It probably wouldn’t happen, but it was a funny thought.

“ _ What would it be like? _ ” Not that he wanted to, mind you. At least he didn’t think he did. His thoughts drifted back to the prince’s words. The way he was so sure that Sebastian was cursed…

“ _ Then again… _ ” he thought, “ _ perhaps, if that’s what could rid the world of winter and help Sebastian be accepted… if it doesn’t work, it’ll just prove I’m not some sort of ‘true love’ or something. _ ”

William turned back towards the door and tapped his foot impatiently, trying to dispel the unwelcome thoughts from his mind. He heard the wind outside begin to cause the walls of the castle to creak and groan in protest once again. The prince had treated the wind picking up as a sign of Sebastian being close by. He wondered if that were true. 

Even though it was cold, he sat on the marble steps. Awaiting Sebastian walking through the door anxiously. Now that no one was around,  he wasn’t walking around anymore, everything seemed too quiet. Even if he had a life before Sebastian, he couldn’t recall it. This feeling of loneliness and anxiousness didn’t feel  _ new _ , to say the least. He had the feeling it was something he had felt regularly for reasons he couldn’t comprehend. Yet this was the first time as far as he could remember that Sebastian hadn’t been around for an extended period of time. It was… unsettling not hearing his voice, or not having him to talk to. The visit of the blonde price was certainly strange enough to have distracted him for a while. Yet as he sat on the freezing steps, the only company being his own flickering flames of light, he felt empty. What puzzled him, however, as he was left to entertain himself with his own thoughts was a deep seeded feeling of odd relief that Sebastian wasn’t there, contrasting wildly with the sense of missing him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So.. this is technically a crossover. The prince is not an OC. I'm planning to do this same kind of fairytale!AU for Hetalia characters/couples. It's mainly for the simplicity of world building. And one story does kind of affect the other. However, I'm not a HUGE fan of crossovers myself, so if another character appears, it is mostly out of the necessity of different interactions. Yet I wanted the fact that the prince is technically a character from Hetalia to be completely coincidental.


	5. The Fall and Rise of the King

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It seems that William's tale in this fantasy world has only just begun.

 

William just barely kept himself from running to Sebastian when the Ice King finally returned. He was sure it hadn’t been that long since he had sat and lost himself in thought, but still, he was exhilarated to see the man back in one piece with his head still on his shoulders.

Sebastian immediately smiled. “Hello, dear William, miss me? It’s quite nice to have someone greeting me after a long journey.”

“You could say that the oddest thing happened while you were away,” William informed.

“Oh? Tell me,” Sebastian asked, pulling off some gloves he had been wearing carefully.

“A prince barged his way in here, looking for you, I presume.”

Sebastian raised his eyebrows in concern as William began telling him of what had occurred between him and the blonde prince. He conveniently left out the part about agreeing to share a kiss with Sebastian.

“Hmm, well I’m glad he believed you that he was kidnapping you rather than ‘saving’ you. Appealing to a prince’s code of honor, how clever, William,” Sebastian praised.

William in another state might have pointed out it had nothing to do with cleverness, merely sheer dumb luck… yet he was beginning to not mind the occasional ego stroke from Sebastian.

“Now then, William…” Sebastian began as he put a freezing arm around William’s shoulders and leading him up to the library they regularly practiced in. “My little journey today was to get a little something for you.”

“For me? Sebastian… I surely hope you didn’t risk an attack just because of me,” William said in concern.

“Ah, I will admit it was  _ quite _ the rough and dangerous journey. Yet it was most certainly worth it,” he stated as he held his other arm behind his back.

When they reached the library, he let go of William and whipped his hand through the air in a smooth motion. When he opened his palm, a small greenish vial sat in it. “ _ This _ is for you, William.”

William lightly took it curiously, turning it over in his hand. “What is it?”

“It’s a mix of rose, Ashbery, wormwood, and orchid. It will help you focus your abilities. I think you’ve got a handle on the basic level your powers have been revealed to you. But I have a feeling you might have more hidden away.”

William hummed in acknowledgment, swirling the liquid around. Who knew flowers and plants could do so much?

“I’ve tried it myself to see if I could end this winter, but I… well.. it just made it worse because I got stronger.” He laughed, the supposed irony stinging the air.

William uncorked the vial he lifted it up, looking to Sebastian to make sure he was supposed to drink it, not do something silly like rub it into his skin.

Sebastian nodded with a smile. “Just warning you William… it might sting a bit.”

William looked at the liquid nervously, just what did he mean by that? Yet… even with everything that happened yesterday, he still trusted Sebastian’s word. So, he downed the small drink in one gulp.

Immediately he found a shocking burning sensation in his stomach and chest. He coughed and doubled over. His eyes rolled back in his head, his mind opening up to a sudden amount of knowledge; so much so that the pain of forced neural connections hurt like  _ hell _ . For a split second as his mind was expanded, he saw the faces of two people… looking at him expectantly, he was in a room full of women… but it wasn’t like anything in this world. They were all dressed so oddly. The vision faded away as quickly as it came, and the pain instantly left him. He realized he had collapsed on the floor without realizing it. He stood up shakily. Sebastian held out a hand in case he needed something to grab onto, but he was able to stabilize himself.

Now that the pain was gone… he did feel different. Great, in fact! Amazing! It felt like his pulse was on fire with power surging through him. “ _ I could get used to this _ …” he thought as a grin spread across his face. He looked up at Sebastian excitedly.

“Hmm… your eyes are a brighter green… it suits you,” Sebastian noted. “Well?” He gestured, silently asking William to show what he could do.

William cockily raised his arm, disappearing in a flurry of green flames and smoke, appearing once again right behind Sebastian, and surprising the Ice King with a light tap on his shoulder.

“Impressive! Even I can’t teleport.”

It was absolutely  _ exhilarating _ . Not only was he getting proud looks and praise from Sebastian, in an instant he felt as if he could crush the world in a single blow. The small liquid had pulled something from deep inside him and brought it out to the surface. The sudden confidence and control was incredible,  _ intoxicating _ .

William took a deep breath, aiming for Sebastian’s shoulder.

It was an interesting feeling for him, having feathers and perching on Sebastian’s shoulder. He could clearly see Sebastian’s shocked expression now that he was exponentially bigger than him.

“ _ Incredible _ ,” Sebastian said, gazing at William, who had transformed into a rather large magpie. It was rather silly, really, as he still held the equivalent of his shoulders rigidly as ever. A very high-class looking bird.

He flew off Sebastian’s shoulder and transformed mid-air, nearly stumbling in his effort to look impressive. He stood up straight and tugged on his vest confidently regardless of the stumble.

“You can teleport… you can transform into a bird…” Sebastian crossed his arms and smirked. “I might get jealous.”

“Oh, there’s no need to be jealous, this is all only because of whatever that was you gave me.”

Sebastian laughed. “Well, I suppose we’re relatively even, as what little control I have comes from the same brew.”

“Amazing, where do you find such a thing?”

“Well, occasionally, there’s a trickster that lives deep in the thickest woods who will have a bottle. Today, I got lucky, he hasn’t had one in several years. If you know how to play his game or you intimidate him, it’s not  _ entirely _ too hard to get what you want.”

“Interesting… I hope you’ll show me more of the world at some point.”

Sebastian smiled cheerfully, folding his arms casually behind his back. “I hope so too. It would be nice to travel the world with you.”

William crossed his arms and lightly smiled back at Sebastian. “Well, if this goes well, maybe we will sooner rather than later.” William stepped closer to Sebastian, looking him in the eye with new confidence. Sebastian met his gaze. It was uncertain whether his gaze held intrigue, a slight wariness, or perhaps a combination of both.

“This is all thanks to you, of course,” William said, moving closer, still leading with his shoulders, his somewhat flirtatious intentions now blatantly obvious. Sebastian didn’t back away, but he didn’t acknowledge or match the action either. He merely kept his cocky smirk and repeated:

“Of  _ course.” _

Feeling such power and awareness, William boldly put his hands on Sebastian’s waist. It was just as cold as one might have guessed. He confirmed that the Ice King’s clothing did indeed seemed to be made out of ice crystals fused together. Yet, the freezing cold against his skin didn’t seem to ever bother the proud man.

Sebastian tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. “I knew you were grateful, but I didn’t quite expect his.”

“I suppose… I should at least try and do something in return,” he uttered lowly, his voice unintentionally dropping as they were so close.

The back of his mind was buzzing with excitement. He hadn’t thought of kissing Sebastian before, yet now there was a certain electric feeling at being this close to someone that caused his heart to beat excitedly. And perhaps… if it did work, if kissing Sebastian would rid him of any sort of curse that kept the land covered in winter, they could rejoin society and let Sebastian be accepted by others.

He pressed his lips to Sebastian’s. It wasn’t… great. The man was  _ freezing _ cold, and his lips were smooth but stiff. At first he let William kiss him. He didn’t move, but he allowed the whole thing to happen. William wasn’t exactly experienced, but he knew generally how a kiss was supposed to go. Then something odd happened as William placed his hands on Sebastian’s cheeks.

Was he getting warmer?

For a moment, a bit of the frost that always covered Sebastian’s cheeks seemed to melt away. 

Sebastian’s eyes grew wide and William suddenly felt Sebastian’s hands shove against him, sending him stumbling back.

He looked at Sebastian, alarmed. Sebastian touched his lips, and William was sure he saw a tiny bit of warm pale skin disappear back under that familiar layer of frost. Sebastian briefly snapped out of his daze and turned away angrily from William.

“ _ Never… _ do that again.”

William’s heart unexpectedly fell, a dull ache filling the excitement and confidence that had just been there. “R-right, sorry,” he mumbled quietly in shame.

The lights in the room flickered and dimmed as Sebastian left the room. William stood there, utterly confused and absolutely, completely, utterly embarrassed.

 

\---

 

William sulked off back to his room after a while. He wanted nothing more to open up a hole and crawl in it.

Why had Sebastian pushed him away so suddenly? It could, of course, have been he wasn’t interested… but he wasn’t crazy! Sebastian  _ had _ felt warmer. Yet the only explanation for that...

His heart sank as he fell onto his bed.

_ “The prince was right. _ ” The thought hit him like a ton of bricks.

Could Sebastian really be cursed, incapable of feeling? If that was true, had he been doing something to William? Was the fact he couldn’t remember his past save for his own name not even a coincidence? How much had he been lied to? He felt as if he was falling into a pit. Doubt… guilt for feeling doubt… anger, fear, sadness… all boiled within him, the room grew a lot brighter as he lay on the bed wide-eyed trying to suppress all that was raging inside him. The fireplace was burning intensely, the one thing that outwardly showed William’s inner turmoil.

There was every reason for William to believe now that the Ice King had foul intentions. Yet… he still stayed within the confines of the castle. He still lay on the bed provided for him. Something in his mind still tried to convince him it was all a misunderstanding. 

Sebastian had lived with his ice powers so long, the idea of losing them so suddenly would be… shocking. This also meant that he and Sebastian were ‘true loves’. The thought made William wrinkle his nose slightly. The notion still seemed silly to him. Yet still, maybe it was his fault, he had been rather bold. Too bold, maybe after such a show of power, and the way he had approached Sebastian.

Thinking about it, he supposed he would shove someone away for approaching him that suddenly, too. His chest still ached at the rejection (which only served to confuse him further), but if it was an awkward thought for him when the idea was planted in his head, to Sebastian, it would have been completely out of nowhere.

No. The prince had to be wrong about the Ice King. 

After calming down for a while, William got up and hurriedly went to find Sebastian to apologize. He searched the great halls, marking his way and following any odd sheets of ice. Yet he only found himself going in circles. He huffed angrily. A tinge of worry hit him that maybe Sebastian had left entirely. The possibility that William had inadvertently chased him off caused a deep panic to rise into his conscious mind. He began looking around more wildly, causing doors to fly open in his search. It wasn’t until he heard shouting and what sounded like the marching of feet that he stopped. He rushed to the nearest window overlooking the mountainside. To his horror, he realized there was an entire army marching towards the castle. 

Only one small man was on a horse, wearing a cloak and carrying a staff. He couldn’t make out details, yet the way the man carried himself despite his smaller stature showed confidence. The army was there to guard him from immediate attack, their intentions clear. William growled, they were so close and he just happened to be on the top floor of the castle. He ran as fast as he could to try and get downstairs.

He cursed as he fell right on his hip on the stairs, slipping on a patch of ice.

“ _ Damn it all! _ ” he growled as he pushed himself to his feet, about to run again.

“Oh wait,” he stated in realization. He grumbled and slapped his head, feeling like a complete dumbass. “ _ I can teleport _ .” He bit his lip - he hadn’t gone that far before, and he was feeling a bit unsure of himself. He inhaled deeply.

“For Sebastian,” he mumbled in resignation.

He pictured the front hall in his mind, somehow just being able to feel where he should be. He raised his hand and found himself exactly where he wanted to be - just in the hallway right where it opened up into the main hall. He saw Sebastian right at the top of the stairs, blasting a sheet of ice holding back the army of angry men. It seemed to be holding them back. William let out a sigh of relief that Sebastian was okay. Yet, somehow, the sheets of ice he was making seemed to be weaker and more frail than usual, and his stance wasn’t quite as bold.

Suddenly, before William could even blink, the man he had seen from above leapt through the ice sheet on his horse - which was whinnying proudly - and landed on the ground just in front of Sebastian. Sebastian, reacting quickly, froze the horse that was rearing up for the attack. Yet William watched in horror, unable to react quickly enough, as the small man leapt off his horse just at the right moment landing behind Sebastian. William tried to call out or call upon his powers. His hip, which he had stupidly hurt due to his lack of quick thinking, only slowed him further and threw off his aim. It was too late to do anything. His burst of flames passed behind the staff wielding man without notice. And Sebastian had turned right as he was clocked on the head with the heavy metal staff.

“No!” William said, starting to raise his arm to teleport to Sebastian’s aid. Yet the small man paid him no mind, focused and already succeeding with his plan.

He held what seemed like an empty hand mirror. Sebastian turned and looked in horror at the mirror. He saw William trying to come to him and shook his head firmly, telling him not to move without speaking a word. William stopped but stared back in confusion and horror.

“Ice King… you will plague us _no_ _longer_ ,” the small man said. 

Sebastian was helpless to stop the spell the man cast - in an instant, the Ice King seemed to shatter into a million peices. The pieces then began to shimmer and levitate, drawn to the hand mirror shell the little wizard dropped collecting in its center and forming a simple clean surface without any cracks or blemishes. An icy air seemed to float around it before diminishing and disappearing all together.

Immediately, the ice sheet blocking the army collapsed, melting into water.

William, still in shock, recognized the voice of the prince that had captured him earlier in the day calling out to the wizard.

“Arthur!  _ Arthur _ ! Look! The snow is melting!”

Another voice cried out, “The cold wind has ceased.”

Another voice yelled, “The  _ sun _ ! I see the  **_sun!!_ ** ”

The wizard who had done the deed smiled triumphantly.

This had been a set-up… perhaps the prince had realized his closeness to the Ice King could provide an opportunity to create a weakness for the Ice King.

He had seemed weaker in this battle.

_ “It’s all my fault… _ ” William realized. 

“The Ice King is gone!” came a loud cheer.

With those words from the crowd of men and women knights and princes. William’s head shot up, and with a sudden burst of energy, traveling only on smoke, and faster than you could say “oh shit”, he snatched the mirror out of the wizard’s hand. The wizard turned towards him in alarm and the crowd stopped cheering. The prince from earlier ran up the stairs protectively, shocked at seeing the man he talked to earlier use such a dark power.

William cradled the mirror in his hand, perplexed, breathing heavily. Everything he had known… Sebastian, who had took him in and cared for him. The man who had been rejected from the beginning.

“ _ Destroy them _ ,” a familiar voice whispered.

“Sebastian…” William muttered. As he gazed into the mirror, his anger and rage only grew, overtaking everything. He felt sick from all the people in the room that had cheered over Sebastian’s supposed death. But he smiled as he realized the truth.

Sebastian wasn’t dead, he was merely trapped. His reflection grinned back at him unnaturally.

“ _ Get rid of them first… then you can get me out…” _ came Sebastian’s soothing whisper.

The prince tried to step towards William, nervous.

“L-Look… let the mirror go.”

“You  _ must _ look away! It’s not good to gaze into a container of evil,” the wizard said nervously, unsure of William’s intentions.

Deaf to their words, William slowly turned to them. Both the prince and the wizard backed away, nearly stumbling into each other down the stairs as they saw William’s burning green eyes that seemed to slowly become the only thing they could perceive as darkness closed in on the room.

“Have your  _ spring _ , you dogs…” William boomed, walking forward, figure imposing and causing the army to unsheathe their weapons in fear and the prince to pull the little wizard away back to his recently thawed horse. The “statues” in the room had begun to thaw as well. “But you have all made a grave error today. If you lived in fear of the Ice King’s cold wrath, then you don’t know what  _ true  _ fear looks like.” His voice seemed to boom despite speaking in a cold even monotone.

From him, green flames exploded throughout the castle. Those just blinking as they were revived from their ice prisons stumbled in confusion, some of the army trying desperately to help them. The castle was beginning to shake as it fell apart, the ice that held it together falling apart and melting. William’s flames exploded as they hit one of the main supports in the hall. He couldn’t stay, and he had to escape with Sebastian, but he was going to do as much damage as possible to satisfy his rage.

With his warning and his show of power, the army was sent running for the exit and taking as many victims of Sebastian’s reign with them as possible. Satisfied with the domino effect of damage he had set in motion, William disappeared right as the prince nearly brought his sword down on his head, making his escape to the mountain top where sheets of ice were falling off into the valley below.

He watched, mirror clutched close to him as the entire castle collapse, rubble no doubt beginning to crush those trapped in its deeper halls. William’s own flames spread, and the whole castle with its 500 plus rooms was up in flames. Dark smoke billowed, turning a certain section of the sky that had been dark gray from cloud cover even darker. The cloud did not travel anywhere else, yet everyone in the land who had briefly celebrated the long-awaited return of spring was now horribly aware of more dreadful things to come.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hm... can you guess which famous villain that William is vaguely equivalent to?
> 
> \---So in terms of Sebwill: Their relationship is not looking good right now, I know. But try to remember that Seb does literally have a frozen heart. I wonder how he'd be if it thaws. ---
> 
> Also for those who are astute readers (or if your like me and just like this kind of things) -pay attention to any plants or animals I've mentioned. Because this is a fairytale!AU there is 'symbolism' hidden everywhere. (Becuase it's freaking FUN to write!!!) Since I already know how this story arch is gonna go: I've planted a lot of little seeds ;)


	6. A Bird in A Gilded Cage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You could say they are trying to put the pieces back together. William is gaining extraordinary powers and abilities... but is it really worth it if he loses himself in the process?

The air was no longer cold. Instead, it was warm and soft. Gliding through the soft breeze was easy for the slightly-larger-than-normal magpie. It seemed to be carrying a rather ornate hand mirror. It glided over a mountain range, occasionally dipping down as it adjusted its grip on the mirror.

“ _ Where am I going? _ ” William thought, eager to get rid of the feeling of having the wind move through his feathers. 

“ _ You need to find a source of power that suits your abilities.” _

William stewed on it for a moment, looking around the mountain range thoughtfully. “ _ Fire… fire… what sort of landmark would help that? Ah! A volcano? _ ”

_ “Yes… a volcano would do nicely. There is a peak south of here that houses a dormant pool of magma beneath it. I believe there’s some nice empty lava caves that could come in handy _ ,” Sebastian whispered to him, a shadow moving in the mirror’s reflection.

“ _ How do you know? _ ”

_ “The funny thing about mirrors is that they hold a lot of knowledge.” _

_ “That doesn’t make any sense.” _

William flew lower into the valley, stopping for a break aside a large oak. Shedding his bird form and leaning momentarily against the tree, holding the mirror against his chest for a moment before looking into it.

“That doesn’t make any sense, you know.” 

“ _ I can tell a lot just by looking at you, some stare into mirrors for hours, some sit in a room and spill their darkest secrets, not caring that their image has been stolen by a simple reflective surface.” _

William furrowed his brows, watching as the mirror shifted in color, not reflecting his own face, but showing patterns the spread out in beautiful fractals. “Are you telling me that you can see anything any mirror sees?”

“ _ Somewhat, I can’t move between mirrors, nor can I see everything. Yet If I focus, I could probably find any sort of information you’d like. It’s quite interesting really, go ahead, ask me anything! _ ”

William huffed in a sort of laugh. “Oh, alright. Let's see… who is the fairest of them all?” he asked jokingly.

“ _ Why… you of course! _ ” Sebastian chuckled.

William snorted and rolled his eyes. “Yeah right, Romeo. No, really, who is it, now I’m curious.”

“ _ Hmm.. beauty is purely objective, but many poets and average people seem to believe Snow White to be the fairest of them all.” _

“Who the hell is Snow White?” William asked.

“ _ A prince… like you _ .”

Another day, another prince it seemed.

“Just how many princes are there?”

“ _ At least one for every kingdom. _ ”

“Well, how many kingdoms are there?”

“ _ 10… on this continent I believe. _ ”

“Oh, my,” William mused. He then stretched and sighed, supposing he should get back up in the air again. Though briefly, he looked down, noticing a root that looked awfully… fuzzy.

“ _ Oh dear, that’s not a root, William…” _

William followed the furry not-root with his eyes… it was thick and massive, then he saw more of them… 8 to be exact, and they began moving, one after the other. He felt light headed as his gaze reached the body of a gargantuan spider, almost as big as the surrounding oaks.

“ _ If you go quietly, it might not notice you… _ ”

William nodded vigorously in agreement, backing away, very slowly.

“ _ Ohh… no, behind y-” _

He suddenly hit something else incredibly furry, and much too big. He whipped around and was suddenly faced with 8 horrid black eyes and a set of massive pincers that looked like they could crush his head.

Fighting back a wail, William sent flames exploding out from him sporadically. Both of the creatures wailed, immediately catching on fire. William felt a bit like vomiting as the wiggled and spastically moved their massive legs. He immediately flew back up into the air as fast as he possibly could.

“ _ No, no no no no, no NO, No NOOO,” _ was all he could think.

“ _ Oh goodness, William, you might have just caused a forest fire. _ ”

“ _ A forest of… THOSE things.”  _ He shuddered mid-flight, feathers thoroughly ruffled.

_ “Oh, what? Scared of a little spider?” _

_ “THOSE were not  _ **_little_ ** _. Don’t even try teasing me with that.” _

_ “Point taken, but you’ll certainly have pissed the Spider King off with that.” _

William made a disgusted noise, which as a bird only came out as a sort of awkward trilling sound. “ _ If there’s a  _ **_KING_ ** _ of spiders, I wouldn’t get along with him anyway.” _

_“I can’t say I would either,”_ Sebastian chuckled lightly.

It was just getting dark by the time William reached the extinct volcano. As soon as he stood on its peak, he inhaled and nearly shuddered at the amount of power he felt surge within him, just barely sensing the heat below.

“Now how do I..?” he started.

“ _ Bend the rock to your will.” _

“What?! I can’t do that. I just set things on fire and… teleport… and turn into things... I can’t  _ move _ mountains!” he said, exasperated.

“ _ Normally, no. But near this source of power, you might be able to heat up the rock hot enough to do what you want with it _ .”

William bit his lip. Staring at the rock below him, a little seed of doubt grew inside him, thinking back on everything that had occurred… like the last castle collapsing. The things which he had once thought to be statues had thawed, revealing living people. He remembered staring at the terrified frozen king and queen deep within the castle. Thinking about it, he suddenly put his hand over his mouth in shock.

Had he… had he killed them?! There was no way they could have gotten out in time! Where there more people inside that he had murdered as well? He hadn’t even thought about it before! He had no idea why he hadn’t stopped to think about it. He fell to his knees, the whole thing hitting him like a ton of bricks.

“ _ William… look at me…” _

Why had he felt no remorse at the time? He had even watched the whole thing fall with a smile on his face…

“ _ Look at me _ ,” Sebastian hissed.

Some part of William hesitated as his attention shifted to the mirror, but eventually, he slowly raised it, being met with his reflection.

“I…  _ killed _ , Sebastian.”

“ _ You ran… I’m the one who had them frozen there.” _

“But I caused the building to collapse! They could have gotten out were it not for me.”

“ _ It was coming down anyway _ .” 

“But..!” William argued, intense guilt overtaking him.

“ _ You’re not a villain, Will. If you were, you wouldn’t be trying to help me. Besides, if the rest of the world had left me alone, none of that would have happened. It was  _ **_their_ ** _ fault.” _

“Their fault…” William let the words sit on his tongue, mulling it over in his mind.

“ **_Their fault._ ** ” William wasn’t quite sure if he had said it or his reflection had. Yet the words felt truer to him with every second he stared at himself. He then had the strange urge to remove his glasses, moving the mirror close to him and checking his teeth and moving his hair into a more presentable form.

Strange… he had never been vain before. Yet he suddenly felt rather self-conscious about his appearance.

He looked away from the mirror briefly, shaking his head in disdain. All of this must be going to his head. He then bit his lip, remembering something.

“Sebastian… before everything happened, I’m sorry for doing something so  _ forward _ and unwarranted so suddenly, I simply…”

“ _ Don’t apologize, William, you surprised me. That’s all.” _

William swallowed hard. “You felt warmer,” he muttered under his breath.

A long silence sprouted between them. The light cool wind rushing past them was the only audible sound.

“ _ Must have been your imagination. _ ”

William felt his heart sink. “Ye-Yes, you’re probably right.”

William sighed, feeling like he had to evaluate his feelings further. Perhaps something inside of him had been so excited at the prospect that a kiss from him could help Sebastian… he had gotten ahead of himself. 

Despite feeling thoroughly rejected, William stood up confidently and took a deep breath. He looked at mirror-Sebastian, then looked around, wondering where to set him.

He hummed thoughtfully. “Well…”

Reaching out his arm and focusing on the rock in front of it, he began to heat it up. It wasn’t enough at first and was almost painful… he felt an intense headache coming on. He breathed deeply once more, closing his eyes and feeling the mountain’s heat below. He suddenly felt an intense amount of heat and nearly blinding light stream through his eyelids. He opened his eyes to discover he had indeed made a pool of magma.

“ _ You are so over-powered, William. I knew you could do it.” _

William nearly laughed as he caused the magma to rise and shaped it into a sort of pedestal. He tried to slowly remove his artificial heat from it, and he was amazed to discover that it turned back into solid rock right before his eyes. It melted out of its nice form a bit, but it still worked.  

“Right.” He took Sebastian and carefully placed him on the pedestal. “Stay there.”

Like he could really go anywhere.

He figured if he could get closer or at least cleared some rock away between him and the magma below without falling to his death, the whole thing might be a bit easier. So he picked a spot and, as best as he could, started drilling a hole through the earth. As he suspected, it got easier as he opened up the earth, the heat deep inside relaxing him. He was starting to feel another addicting surge of power. Once he felt ready he closed his eyes, not even having to look to shape the rock around him. He formed walls… hallways. Arches, great pillars. He breathed deeply, sweating a little bit from the heat, but it only served to strengthen him. He didn’t even find himself feeling sick from the fumes that no doubt emanated from melting rock.

Feeling a bit shaky as the power surge dripped away and starting to feel drained, he stopped, opened his eyes, and let the rock cool. He nodded approvingly at the castle-like structure he had built around him, not as fancy as the castle Sebastian had let him stay, nor as big. But it wasn’t half bad. The whole thing shimmered, the obsidian rock looking quite hauntingly beautiful in the light of the setting sun.

He walked over to the mirror and picked it up, looking into its depths; feeling comforted at having the object by his side again.

“Well, what do you think?”

“ _ Obsidian, hmm? Reflective, very handy, thank you, William.” _

William nodded as if he meant to do that, yet he hadn’t even thought of it, not consciously, at least.

“I got a bit tired, so it’s not as polished as I’d like, but it’s a start. I’m not sure I could do this if it weren’t for…”

“ _ The magma below? Nor could I have maintained the castle at all if I didn’t consistently return to such a high altitude where the air is naturally cool _ .”

“Interesting,” William mused. “Well, now what?”

He had a place to stay now and regain his energy… well, he didn’t have a bed, or a source of food… or spare clothing. He furrowed his brows.

“ _ What the hell  _ **_am_ ** _ I supposed to do now?” _ William asked himself.

“ _ Simply… listen closely to me. You’ll be fine. We’ll attend to your needs first, then we’ll begin the tedious process of getting me out of here.” _

“I suppose if I’m comfortable I can  **reflect** on everything that’s happened a little better, hmm?” he stated nonchalantly 

“ _ William… how dare you”, _ Sebastian-mirror said despite William hearing a distinct stifled chuckling emanating from the reflective surface.

William shared the chuckle with him, bringing the mirror to his chest with a deep sigh.

“I’ll get you out of there soon, I promise.”

 

\---

 

William lay on the floor, face planted on the hard rock.

“ _ That probably isn’t good for you.” _

William turned to the mirror in his hand and glared at it. He had tried fifty times, and all he could conjure was a brown pillow.

“I’m telling you, I can’t do this.”

“ _ You  _ **_can_ ** _ do this, you're simply inhibiting yourself and not thinking creatively. You made that nice pedestal and the whole fancy castle, didn’t you? You didn’t think you could do that, did you? _ ”

William rolled onto his back, holding the mirror above him and looking into it.

“Sure, but I know in some respect I can do fire… or hot things. And I felt  _ something _ inside me. I can’t describe it, but when I was able to transform or teleport, then…”

“ _ Yes, you can teleport, you can shapeshift. That’s more than me. I could conjure up hot meals despite only being able to handle ice. Sure the food was frozen by the time it hit my mouth… but that’s besides the point. Now stop  _ **_arguing_ ** _. You’re being too stubborn.” _

William glowered angrily up at the rough ceiling. He wasn’t sure why he kept listening to this guy, he was growing more and more agitated by the second.

“ _ Look at me, William.” _

“No,” he said without thinking.

“ _ Look. At. Me.” _ Sebastian’s voice hissed threateningly

William reluctantly looked back into the mirror. His own reflection shifted and morphed, almost grotesquely. Yet within a few blinks he saw Sebastian’s face looking back at him. He suddenly scrambled to his feet, cradling the mirror and looking into it.

“Sebasti…”

“Now listen to me, William…”

William stopped and stared deep into Sebastian’s eyes, gaze not shifting away even for a second.

“You can do this,” he said, his voice a lot clearer and less like an echo the longer William starred.

He suddenly shook and was sure he felt Sebastian’s cold touch on his cheek before realizing it was his own hand. His head tilted back, eyes inadvertently rolling back into his head. He set the mirror down and whipped his head around blearily.

“I’ll show you.” the voice hissed out from William’s own mouth, yet it was certainly not his voice.

An uncharacteristic grin spread across his face, and with the slow movement of his left hand, he slowly began to feel smooth sheets brush across his fingertips. He now had a nice place to sleep. It had Sebastian’s sort of overly-decadent flair to it, with pillows knew William would probably kick off in the night.

He began to shake again and he nearly fell over, stumbling as his joints tightened and began to ache horribly. He stumbled back over to the mirror and picked it up shakily before falling back on the bed.

“What did you just do to me?!” William uttered, feeling like he would throw up what little was in his stomach at any second.

“ _ I helped you.” _ The voice was merely a whisper in his head once more.

“Helped…”

Sebastian had been inside him. Or… perhaps a piece of him, a shard. He certainly hadn’t been quite himself.

“ _ That was incredibly exhausting, you should be thanking me. _ ” 

“Thank you,” William mumbled half-heartedly. 

“ _ Now… I surely hope you can handle yourself for a while. I over-exerted myself a bit. So we can’t talk for a little while.” _

William turned over in a panic. “But-”

“ _ I’ll be back.” _

 

William curled up on the bed, hugging the mirror. He felt wrong, uncomfortable in his own flesh. He still didn’t quite feel like himself. Everything about this felt so wrong, he felt as if he was mourning a loss. He didn’t know what he was mourning, but it was almost like within that day, or perhaps the past few, days something in him had died. He was growing stronger, he had done so much, yet he felt so lost, finally able to reflect on his own memories right as Sebastian left.

One haunting question was left in his mind.

 

“ _ Who am I?” _

 

The only answer he had was his own name. William T. Spears… yet he didn’t even know what the ‘T’ stood for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So in the story of the Ice Queen, which... has more to do with "the mirror" then the Ice Queen herself... but what is happening to dear William is largely based off the character "Kai" in the original story. You see, pieces of this... well, devil-mirror, end up in Kai's eye and heart, and as a result becomes cruel and nasty, as the mirror is meant to show the worst of what it reflects.
> 
> Sebastian-mirror is a sort of combination of that mirror and the mirror in "Snow White". It'd be nice to know what he's planning though, wouldn't it? ;)
> 
> Also.. giant spiders. Ick.


	7. The Death of a Good Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Any and all magic comes with a price, doesn't it?

He awoke with a horrible pain in his stomach, feeling overall drained and weak. He ran his fingers across the mirror, tracing a rather ornate blue gemstone on the handle. The craftmanship was excellent, and there seemed to be engravings in a language he didn’t know. He felt like before this mirror held Sebastian within it, it had been somewhere else, had its own story - another life.

He sat up and scolded himself for relating to an inanimate object.  Hearing nothing from Sebastian, he calmly left the mirror on the bed, deciding he really wanted some fresh air. He walked outside the obsidian palace he had shoddily made for himself. He still felt the heat down below, but it didn’t seem to do much for him at the moment. He supposed he still needed some time to recover from the previous day’s events. He mused to himself that just bumping into giant spiders was enough to drain him for days. 0where he could see the valley. He could have technically teleported, yet he decided he didn’t want to waste that sort of energy on menial tasks, telling himself the exercise was probably good for him.

He sighed in amazement as he saw the interior of the valley. The warm wind was caressing the brilliant green grass that covered rolling hills. He was sure he could ever so slightly make out some dear that calmly roamed around through the large oak trees. It seemed everything was thriving for the first time in a long time. 

He frowned as he thought of the winter that had been so prevalent not but a day and a half ago. The bitter cold… the mirror… Sebastian.

“ _ It’s not good to look into a vessel of evil _ .”

“Evil…”

It sounded so ridiculous to say. Sebastian wasn’t evil. He was just… a misunderstood prick.

“ _ And yet…” _ William thought. It was beginning to seem odd to him, as he stared at the wildlife flourishing in the valley, that every time he began to question Sebastian’s motives: something would come up to distract him and end up with him feeling guilty. He awkwardly remembered the horrid kiss they had shared. He shifted uncomfortably. Sebastian  _ had _ felt warmer, he wasn’t crazy. The way Sebastian had shoved him away… it wasn’t just like he was rejecting him romantically, there was something else.

William then spotted a thorny bush that had seemingly just bloomed with roses colored a deep red. He became mesmerized with them. They sat on the cliff awkwardly, yet it still bloomed. He hadn’t noticed it before, and it seemed a strange place for roses. Yet, he strolled forward, being very careful where he stepped on the uneven surface, very aware that any of the rocks he stood on could give out from under him. He reached out for the largest rose, petting it’s petals lightly. He then bit his lip, and reached just under a large thorn and gripped the stem, using his other hand to lightly snap it lower down. He strolled back towards the castle, twirling the flower in his hand and lightly singing the thorns off as he walked.

“ _ The petals look like his eyes… such a deep crimson _ .” He thought absent-mindedly. 

The sudden thought disgusted him and intrigued him. He ran his hand along the black obsidian of the castle as he walked, eyeing his slight reflection curiously.

“ _ Do I love him? _ ” He asked himself.

Love seemed like such a strong word… could he really say such a thing.

“ _ Do I like him platonically only? _ ”

He had some sort of sense of comradery, yet he felt so strongly about helping him despite the doubts in his mind, he wasn’t sure it was just that. “I would do anything for him…” He whispered subconsciously.

He then found himself wondering if he’d still like to kiss the Ice King again.

“ _ Perhaps… were he a bit warmer…” _ He smiled and chuckled just thinking about him.]]

He stomach growled angrily, bringing him back down to Earth. He swallowed, trying to remember what it was like to summon the bed, trying to turn that into the idea of summoning food. He held his hand out in front of him while biting his lip. Yet he couldn’t for the life of him think what he wanted. He glared at his hand as a tiny brown pillow appeared in it. 

He looked up, trying to force his mind into being a bit more creative. The sun was directly overhead, he must have slept into the afternoon. No wonder he was hungry.

He could think of lots of sweet things, but nothing substantial. He grumbled in frustration, realizing he didn’t even know what his favorite food was. 

He was just about to round the corner to the front of the palace when the sound of a gruff “ _ BaAAAA”  _ pierced his ears.

Lamb? Now that sounded good. He turned towards the sound, finding a rather shaggy looking mountain goat instead of a lamb.

“ _ A very… angry mountain goat. _ ” He thought, highly amused at how cranky the horned creature looked.

“ _ He looks like you glaring like that William _ .”

William jumped at the sudden voice calling to him. He huffed and marched inside, taking up the mirror and looking angrily into it.

“Don’t  _ do _ that!”

“ _ Ah, but I saw you wandering around and couldn’t help myself _ .”

“You were watching me?! But…” he lectured, about to ask how the hell Sebastian knew what he was doing.

“ _ The obsidian. It’s a bit dark but I can get a good look at you. Remember?” _

William grumbled. “Well, I liked your teasing more when you  _ weren’t _ a nearly-all-seeing mirror.”

“ _ So did I. _ ”

William felt a tinge of guilt for bringing up the subject but didn’t say anything in response. He found himself eating an apple he hadn’t even realized he made just to keep a straight face. The silence between them droned on, William suddenly became self-conscious at even just the sound of him chewing… so he slowed and nearly swallowed a whole chunk clenching his teeth and stiffening to avoid coughing and making himself even more embarrassed.

After a long while and an apple core on the floor, he finally asked.

“What do we do now?”

“ _ I wish I could say what was needed to release me was simple, yet this sort of trap is made to last.” _

William stood up with the mirror determined. “I don’t care if it’s complicated, just tell me what I need to do?”

“ _ Alright… but it’s long, you might want to take notes _ .”

 

\---

 

_ To Release the Ice King _

 

_ The blood of a cursed princess on her 16th birthday _

_ The glass shoe of a great warrior. _

_ The red hood off a deflowered wanderer _

_ The voice of a siren _

_ and finally, the most precious item belonging to the fairest of them all. _

 

_ Find these items and combine together. This will be what releases the Ice King from his prison _ .

 

\---

  
William finished madly carving the poetic request into the wall and read it over a few times.

“That does seem oddly complicated…. and incredibly specific. Are you sure this is the only way? How do you know for sure?”

Sebastian’s sigh echoed from the mirror. “ _ You ask way too many questions, William. For starters… the person who trapped me was a wizard. His magic is learned through years of study and using formulas in books. To make this mirror was a joint effort by several kingdoms. Each of the gems on this mirror is a symbol of the kingdoms who pledged something important to them to give the wizard the power to trap me.” _

William took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes tiredly. “Okay… so those are the things these… kingdoms have given up.”

“ _ I know because I’ve read all these books myself. I knew exactly what the little wizard’s goal was, I was simply distracted and not at my best.b” _

William shut his eyes and resisted the urge to groan and mope out of guilt. Sebastian’s words seemed to bite into his heart a lot recently. It ached as if it were breaking, shriveling and rotting away. 

“ _ Frankly, I was delaying telling you this because I was spending a large amount of time figuring it out myself. If they had succeeded in shattering the mirror, and you hadn’t saved me… well… I think my soul would have been shattered along with the mirror… which is a horribly painful way to die I might add. So thank you, William, for that at least.” _

“You’re welcome.” William said plainly, his words made him feel the slightest bit proud, but the thought that all of this was his fault still stung like lemon juice on an open wound.

_ “Luckily for you Will, your power comes from within. That might mean you can’t always control your abilities to the fullest, but it also means you have an extreme amount of power within you. Not many people can say that. _ ”

“Is that how it is for you?” William asked, lightly toying with the rose he had found again. The red of the rose that seemed so like Sebastian’s eyes, only made him wonder. Who was Sebastian? Not the Ice King as he presented himself, but  _ Sebastian _ himself.

Sebastian didn’t answer him… going completely silent once more.

William looked towards the mirror worriedly, finding the surface had gone dim. He sighed, he supposed both of them were low on energy.

Finding his appetite ruined by the pit that had grown in his stomach from the horrible guilt and rejection, he lay back down on his bed, holding the rose unconsciously in his hand and closed his eyes, trying his best only to feel the warmth from the volcano and the amazing feeling of power beginning to flow back into him.

 

\---

 

He was standing in complete darkness. He looked around despite the action making him feel dizzy. Suddenly a brilliant green glow appeared in the dark, nearly blinding him.  He suddenly felt hot. Ridiculously hot. On fire kind of hot.  

He looked at his hands terrified, finding them burning and charring horribly right before his eyes, he felt terrified as the fire consumed him, yet he felt no pain. He suddenly saw Sebastian, walking towards him with cool brisk strides, the closer he got, the more the fire that encompassed him began to dwindle. He felt Sebastian touch him and he immediately felt relieved. Suddenly they were in a pure white expanse. And the two of them were… naked? This was weird. William tried to back away in embarrassment, but the Ice King held on tight to him. Sebastian trailed a hand down his chest so softly… he closed his eyes, completely relaxing. 

That was when he found himself in horrible pain. He looked down realizing Sebastian had plunged his hand into his chest. He was just smiling at him as he gripped onto his heart. Strangling it… crushing it.

He didn’t want to cry from the pain… no… he felt a deep hate burning inside of him. He took Sebastian’s arm out of his own accord, feeling no sympathy has he snapped the other man’s arm. Sebastian simply smiled wider at him and William began to laugh. The laugh that came from him was deep, horrible, and deliciously  _ villainous... _ and he  **_loved_ ** it.

 

\---

William sat up suddenly,  breathing heavily, in a cold sweat. He ran a hand through his hair and gripped his chest tightly. He scrambled, looking desperately for the mirror. When he found its handle, he held it to his chest frantically.

“Sebastian… “ He stuttered.

“ _ Bad dream? _ ”

“Yes.. I… Oh Sebastian, something is wrong with me, horribly horribly wrong.” He admitted, only barely stopping himself from hyperventilating.

“ _ Deep breaths. It will be okay.” _

He stumbled to his feet and pressed his burning head to the cool wall.

“ _ Get some fresh air, you have a lot of built up power from your rest.” _

For all the power William had, he felt completely out of control. He stumbled outside, looking around with bleary vision which only made him feel sick and dizzy.

“Glasses where are…”

He sighed in relief as the calm spring air hit his face, and he sat on the hillside, catching his breath.

Wait, his glasses were on his face right? He never got up without putting them on, it was second nature. He felt them pinching at the sides of his face like they normally did. Maybe it was because he had felt dizzy?

He opened his eyes. Finding the world still blurry and out of focus. Furrowing his brows, he reached up and slowly pulled his glasses off. He choked on his own breath. He found himself not only with perfect vision, but everything was much more vibrant and vivid than he had imagined even with his glasses before. The grass seemed greener somehow… the sky bluer.

And yet, with this miracle he found himself feel more down than ever as he stared at his now useless glasses. This was it… the last part he knew to be part of William T. Spears. The only thing he had known to always have. He ran his hand along them, remembering telling Sebastian that they had been broken many times… especially as a child. 

He felt as if he wanted to cry, yet he felt as if he was the type to hold it back rather than show it. A sad laugh met the air. Well… at least he knew that about himself.

He walked inside, tossing his poor glasses carelessly on the bed. He did nothing but glance back at the mirror and felt that horrible pain in his chest once again. He buckled over, wincing horribly. He heard Sebastian’s amused chuckle. That intense feeling of bloodlust and fury hitting him again, fighting horribly with his feelings of sadness and betrayal. It even seemed to be contrasting viciously with a deep, dying, feeling of affection. This hadn’t happened before Sebastian had used his body. He growled, the feeling of a piece of  _ something _ being left in his heart. He scrambled to the mirror angrily. Remembering his dream. He felt as if his blood was on fire, and in a strange moment of hateful clarity, he practically hissed at Sebastian.

“You… you did this to me. I know you did.” He finally hissed.

“ _ What, made you stronger? You’re welcome. _ ”

William nearly growled. “You did  _ something _ . Why?! Why else would it hurt?!”

“ _ Weak emotions like affection, caring and sadness just gets in the way, dear William.  They made me weak, so I got rid of them. And so… because I’m kind enough… I’ve helped you to do the same. ” _

“Wh… What?!” He wept, clenching his chest even harder, hoping that somehow that would make the searing pain go away.

If he could do that.

“ _ He wasn’t born with his power… he took on the curse that gave him ice powers of his own accord! He deliberately froze the whole land!” _ He finally realized.

“No…”

“ _ Yes… William.” _ He heard Sebastian laughing in his head.

“Stop it!  **_Stop it!!”_ ** He yelled, curling around himself. The pain was growing, it was unbearable, his face becoming wet with tears.

“I… I… I  _ loved  _ you. I would have done  _ anything _ for you.” He sadly admitted in the midst of his sobbing.

_ “Oh, but love is just the biological need that compels one to mate, you said so yourself. It’s not my fault you were easy to manipulate. So lost and alone… so willing to believe the first face you saw. _ ”

The pain only increased as Sebastian’s words hit him, breaking his heart further.

“Please…” He uttered pathetically.

“ _ I’ve done you a great service William. I remember the pain… but the regret and feelings of loss went away pretty quickly. The man I once was is gone, and soon this weak form of yours will be too. People call it a curse… but I think it’s a wonderful blessing.” _

“W-Why would you do that to yourself?!” William gasped.

“ _ I told you. Emotions are a weakness. “Love” is merely a distraction. With a mind clear of all this… why, William, I believe you could be the most ruthless ruler the world has ever seen. And once you release me, our combined power will have people eating from the palm of our hands… no one would dare question our rule. We’d control the wind and weather and no one could do a  _ **_damn_ ** _ thing about it!” _

William’s grip around the mirror tightened. “Why, do you really think… that I would do  _ anything _ for you now?!” he barked furiously, raising the mirror above his head, ready to bring it down against the hard floor and smash it. For a moment, it seemed he might actually do it. Then he stopped. In a last dying hint of love, he couldn’t bring himself to do it… and… yet, not but a few seconds later, his chest stopped aching and the sadness and feelings of betrayal left him.

_ “Do you understand now? _ ”

William slowly brought the mirror down from its raised state. Staring deeply into it. “Yes.” He said plainly.

“ _ Well then… I think it best to make a name for yourself. Show this pitiful land that you are not one to be trifled with. _ ”

A horrible grin spread across his face, the madness that came without the presence of empathy fully overtaking the poor man within. “Yes… no more delaying.”

He stood, walking outside with long confident strides. Deciding to take on a more dark and regal looking appearance as he walked. He was going to be the new ultimate ruler, so why not look the part? With the heat within him, and the hot magma down below and a mind free of feeling, he was at his peak strength… and he was going to let the whole world know it.

He raised his arms up, sighing at the pure, raw power flowing through him. Rolling his shoulders back with just how  _ good _ it felt. He released a burst of smoke and fire into the air. Hot green lightning slithered through the sky. The whole surrounding mountain range and valley was soon covered in darkness.  The animals fled madly from the oncoming storms, and surrounding kingdoms watched in horror as this new power was seen from miles away. They held their children and lovers in fear. Terrified of the horror this being would bring to them all.

William, pleased his work took one last look inside the room he had slept. He strode over to his glasses and smirked. Taking them into his hand, he tossed them carelessly onto the ground, walking over to them and hovering his boot over them. A distant wail resounded in his mind, but he wouldn’t let it bother him.

“Goodbye, William.” he pressed his weight forward and crushed the humble spectacles beneath his shoe, before heading off with a flourish of his dark cape, ready to focus on the task at hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah... this was an emotionally painful chapter for me to write, but I've had it planned for a while. I even left little easter eggs like plant symbolism (cause that's what fairytales do) for the sake of foreshadowing. Also, I think generally in fairytales, anytime someone offers you sweet things, it means horrible intentions.
> 
> This story does have a happy ending, I know if I was reading this fic I would be like fUK Don't let my rare pair end up sad and unhealthy again. So preemptively, remember that the knight wasn't wrong that Sebastian is cursed, and now he's spread it to poor William for the sake of more power. But DAMN I'm finally getting into the meat of the story. So stay tuned!! I wanted to get this far before end-of-year school work slows me down :D


	8. The Hunt Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the list of things he needs, William begins to make a name for himself much to the terror of all those trying to raise their families in an uncertain world.

In the midst of the terror of the unknown, one kingdom was celebrating the birth of a new baby girl. It would be a lot of waiting, but it was easier to curse someone as a child… especially if you're new to curses. Several wizards and fairies were bestowing their blessings on the newborn. It was truly a joyous occasion. 

Or, at least it was until the doors burst open, the wood cracking in protest. The crowd gasped as they saw a man with his head held high, dressed in all black. His tight metal collar and spiked gloves only served to make him seem taller and like a demon straight out of hell.

“What business do you have here?!” The King of the kingdom stood bravely. 

“You’re not welcome here!” the Queen proclaimed threateningly.

One man who William recognized immediately by his white hair and red eyes as Snow White nearly darted forward before his father gripped his arm tightly to shield what he presumed must be the man’s newborn little sister. He resolved to deal with him at a later time.

William raised his eyebrows with mock-offense. “Why… I heard of your sweet little celebration. I assumed the fact I hadn’t received an invite was an,” he paused and glanced at the king and queen, who were signaling for the guards to surround him. This didn’t cause any reaction except a small smile as he continued “innocent mistake.”

“It was no mistake. You are  _ not _ welcome! Evildoers have no place in our kingdom!” The king signaled for his soldiers to draw their weapons.

The little wizard that William knew instantly to be the one who trapped Sebastian in the mirror in the first place spoke up.

“I know you're acting like this because of the mirror… Just let go of it and I can help you. It’s not too late.”

William narrowed his eyes threateningly at the wizard but ignored him for the sake of his task.

“ _ Not welcome _ ?” William uttered as if surprised. “How embarrassing.” He chuckled darkly. “Well, I suppose I should be on my way then.” He began to turn then stopped. “Oh, but before I go, I’d like to bestow my own little gift on the  _ precious _ little child.”

“You will not lay a  **finger** on her!” the Queen barked, and the soldiers sprung their attack. William sighed in annoyance. When a crowd of soldiers was just within 10 feet of him, all of the poor men howled in horror as they seemingly spontaneously combusted, flames curling around them like vipers inside of their armor. Within an instant, there was nothing left but ash. All others about to charge halted. The wizard backed away slowly. The king looked at him desperately, but he replied only with a fearful shake of the head.

The queen nearly dashed for her peacefully sleeping daughter, but the king grabbed her out of fear for their lives as they watched in horror as… with a sly grin, this evil being strode forward toward the infant princess who lay peacefully, her blue eyes staring up at the odd man curiously, only wisps of light blonde hair beginning to sprout from her little head... 

“Listen closely to me, young child…” William hissed darkly. The light left the room, leaving only the lights of candles, which began to glow a slimy green. “You will live happily, without a care in the world,” he said with mock fondness and raised his arm, whipping around to face the crowd.

His eyes seemed to glow bright enough to illuminate his whole face as his voice boomed as he began to recite his curse. “I, on this day, curse this child! For on her sixteenth birthday she will prick her finger on the needle of a spinning wheel and fall into an eternal… sleeping  _ death _ .”

With that, the curse was cast, a small green flame igniting above the child and slipping into their heart. 

The light came back, and as quickly as he arrived, William disappeared into a dark cloud of black smoke, leaving the court and their leaders to deal with the dead soldiers as well as what to do with a cursed daughter.

\---

 

“ _ Why a ‘sleeping death’ why not a ‘permanent death’?” _ Sebastian asked with a chuckle.

“It sounds cooler. Besides, I just need the little beast to be cursed and 16… death is not a necessity.”

_ “Don’t tell me you're going to go soft. Were those soldier’s deaths a ‘necessity’?”  _ The mirror seemed to glow slightly with Sebastian’s increased amusement.

“It was completely necessary. t was a show of power. And I didn’t really want a sword in my side. I don’t intend to extend more effort than I must. Otherwise, I’ll end up fatigued. Besides, we need to grab that wanderer’s cape before he stops ‘wandering’. He’s supposed to get back home today, isn’t he?”

Sebastian chuckled and the mirror flashed, showing the image of their next target, a tall muscular blonde man in a red riding hood being seemingly harassed by a perky, brunette man.

“ _ Not if you have anything to do with it. However, be careful of the golden-eyed boy talking to the hooded man… he’s stronger than he looks. I got that little elixir from him.” _

“Oh, so that’s him, hmm? Noted.” 

William arrived on the outskirts of the thick, dark forest. He surveyed the land around him, grumbling as he nearly got mud on his nice boots. He decided this time to take the form of a cat, shrinking down into the form naturally, and immediately climbing a tree, easily and quickly darting along the interconnected branches. It wasn’t long before he spotted the two talking endearingly to each other. He laid his eyes on the red hood and licked his lips as if he was a predator about to kill his prey.

He leaped onto the ground and narrowed his eyes at the blonde.

“Can you sense a weakness?” William whispered into the mirror.

“ _ So soft…. so adorable…” _ William blinked then looked into the mirror. 

“Sebastian.”

“ _ Ahhh, I want to stroke those soft little paws… _ ”

“Sebastian!!” William hissed in annoyance, hitting the glass of the mirror with his aforementioned paw for emphasis.

“ _ Ouch! Sorry, sorry… for him…”  _ Sebastian made a disgusted noise. “ _ Dogs. He’d definitely abandon all logic for a dog.” _

“A dog… well, alright.”

The two men both stopped when they heard the sound of pathetic whimpering. William painstakingly bit his own leg and scratched himself up to look as if he had just been in a fight. It hurt, but he found that he didn’t mind as much after the pain of his heart dying.

He limped out towards them, whining and giving his best “Oooh look at me I’m so alone and hurt” look.

The blonde’s blue eyes dilated as he gasped. “Oh my  _ god. _ ” He spoke with a heavy German accent.

The brunette’s honey colored eyes narrowed suspiciously. William knew for a fact it was incredibly hard to hide from other magical beings, so he’d have to make this quick. The blonde immediately ran to the “dog’s” side.

“Ludwig, I don’t think…” the brunette started hesitantly. 

The man, “Ludwig”, began examining William’s wound. He whined for emphasis, eyeing his red cloak.

“Ludwig, I really don’t like this…”

“What’s the problem? It’s just a hurt dog,” Ludwig replied, yet he seemed unsure as he looked at the dog’s form. It was obvious he had a lot of faith in the honey-eyed boy.

William began carefully focusing on heating up the hilt of the red-cloaked man’s sword, not enough to melt it… but just enough that it would burn him if he touched it. He whined again to get the blonde’s attention back on him and away from the other man’s gaze.

The boy glared deeply at him. “I’ve never seen a dog with bright green eyes.” 

Ludwig furrowed his brows but followed his friend’s advice, taking a calm step back. “You’re right.” 

To William’s delight, he cautiously reached for his sword and yelled in surprise and pain as he wrapped his hand around the hilt. His right hand immediately scalding on the hot metal. 

“What the  **hell??** ”

Both of them being caught off guard from the injury, he immediately let a cloud of smoke carry him rapidly forward, shifting back into his human form as he grasped onto the cloak around the man’s neck, momentarily choking him with the chain before ripping it off. He landed back on the ground in his full form and couldn’t help but turn back towards the two of them to gloat, smirking wildly.

Ludwig had fallen on the ground and was shaking as he clutched his hand, which had slightly charred in the middle of his palm. He was strong willed it seemed, but even he wasn’t above tearing up at the searing pain. The brunette looked at the fallen blonde, then at the cloak, and then at William in fear before finally clutching his fists in protest.

“Give it back! Without that cloak, he’ll…”

William turned and laughed, interrupting him. “Be vulnerable to the vicious beasts that exist in these woods? Be susceptible to the calls of sirens?  How  _ horrible _ . Ah well…” He shifted his pitch black cloak to the side, revealing the mirror. He relished in the look of horror and disappointment as the two of them laid eyes on it. “This was made in your kingdom, yes? Well… I admire your people for your craftsmanship, but I don’t much appreciate its existence. So to undo it…” He held up the cape. “I value this more than your life. Rot in this forest and save yourself the effort,” he chuckled to himself, laughing at the hope fading from their eyes.

“I won’t let you!” the brunette announced, taking a bold step forward.

“And do  _ what _ , boy? My powers greatly excel yours… and frankly, I have to thank you. For if you hadn’t been the one to… deflower that young prince, I would have had to extend a lot more effort with less desirable results. So consider the both of you  _ lucky _ .”

The brunette gulped and stepped back again, deciding to submit for the best chance of helping Ludwig heal his hand and get him out of the forest in one piece. With a long-lasting laugh, William turned with a flourish and disappeared into smoke, leaving nothing but ash where he once stood.

  
  


\--- 

 

William sat with a sigh, draped across his newly made throne, spending some of his energy nonchalantly decorating his castle, throwing a pillow here and there just for the hell of it. He gazed into the mirror, unable to tear his gaze from it. For several minutes, he didn’t move aside from using one hand to model out rooms, arches, pillars just for fun and exercises. Occasionally, he would stop and mess with his hair or gaze at himself and wonder pridefully how he got so  _ damn _ handsome and perfect. It had to be a crime to be this good-looking. 

He hummed contently. Being rid of cumbersome emotions gave him so much more time and energy to focus on the important things.

“ _ You did well today,” _ Sebastian whispered to him.

“I  **know** , the looks on their faces.” He laughed to himself, remembering the terror… the fear… it was hilarious how pathetic it was.

After the sun had set, William walked around his castle, admiring his handiwork. The light from his green flames bounced hauntingly and beautifully off the obsidian rock. The statues he had decided to make reflected the flames in a way that almost made them look alive. He gazed out a makeshift window at the valley below and sighed contently. The life in the valley had flooded and died out from his smoke and ash that caused the intense storms to wage on above his castle. The rain that fell was dirty and toxic, but it didn’t affect him in the slightest. 

Having relaxed for a while, William headed down deep underground, following the lava tubes that were created both by him and by natural causes. Eventually, he nearly gasped from the power that filled him as he finally found the active flow of magma that he had sensed up above. 

For his coming missions, he decided he was going to sleep down here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little more crossover-type stuff, but it's sort of a necessary evil right now since William needs things from them. I'm trying to write it so you can read this story without knowing the extra characters beforehand. But since I know them, that might not come across, so message me if it ever seems kind of confusing.


	9. The Beating Heart of the Fairest of Them All

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just how rotten is William's heart? And how far will he go? Is it really too late for William T. Spears to fight back against the Evil King who lives in the nightmares of people everywhere?

William yawned when he awoke, dumping a large amount of lava on an oncoming army as he sipped some coffee he had swirled with chocolate. He cleaned himself as a knight came into challenge him and ran out screaming as he was chased by green flames that took the form of his dead girlfriend. 

“I suppose I could go out and try for the glass shoes.”

“ _ No need, they’ll be coming to you today. _ ” William stopped as he was about to put on his overly long cape, it didn’t have a point, he just thought it made him look cool.

“Oh.” He shrugged and tossed it onto his throne and lounged across it. “How convenient.”

And so he waited. He played around with the heel of his boots just to pass the time, swapping between a tall heel and a flat heel.

_ “High heels are  _ **_very_ ** _ attractive as well as intimidating, _ ” Sebastian hummed, causing the mirror glass to vibrate.

William smiled and picked it up, gazing at himself with a bit of a sadistic grin.

“Oh? Is that why your shoes always had such a heel to them? To be honest I’m not sure if I could even walk with a tall heel.”

“ _ Yes. I love it. The sound, the confidence… Oh, it’s not that hard. Give it a try.” _

William rolled his eyes but complied, putting a good five inches on his heel to give it a shot, and stood up. He took one step before falling flat on his face.

“ _ Swing your hips.” _

“I’m sorry?!” William proclaimed as he rubbed his nose and checked if it was bleeding from hitting the hard rock floor.

“ _ You can’t walk in it like how you normally do. Good posture, heel to toe, smaller steps, and  _ **_practice_ ** _.” _

“This seems to be a lot more trouble than it’s worth. Can’t I just…not?” William grumbled.

“ _ You  _ **_could_ ** _ , but Cinder is  _ **_big_ ** _ and tall. It’s a bit embarrassing to be shorter than the person you're trying to intimidate. _ ”

“Okay, sure, but why do you want me to wear heels so badly?” He stopped and smirked over at the mirror. “Why, do you find me attractive in them?”

“ _ No I find the shoes attractive, I could care less who is in them _ .”

William’s face fell, and he got back up to his feet. “Weirdo.”

He eventually got his balance and walked around for Sebastian’s pleasure. It took him about an hour, and by that point his ankles hurt.

“Alright, I wore them, I walked around in them. Can I  _ please _ stop wearing them until... did you say their name was Cinder?”

_ “Not really, it’s a cruel name given to him by his step-mother. It’s ended up being what a lot of people call him however. And he’s going to enter the door in 30 seconds. Oh, and he’s brought a friend.” _

“30 SEC..?” William straightened up and brushed himself off, correcting his crown and laying back on his throne to act nonchalant.

“Cinder” entered the castle. He did seem to almost have platinum blonde hair and a very large frame. Yet, he did indeed have shoes made of glass. Well, less like shoes and more like fitted boots. Shards of glass and molded glass that was fitted in with some parts made of sturdy metal. William admitted he had been expecting someone with a smaller foot-size with the glass being something more like a slipper, but he supposed that was his fault for making assumptions. He was on a familiar white horse, and as soon as he got off, William realized why. He rolled his eyes when he realized the sunny, over-enthusiastic blonde that had once tried to “save” him was with “Cinder”.

William gazed down at both of them after grumbling in disinterest and attaching Sebastian to his belt, trying to enforce the idea that their presence was of little consequence to him.

The prince drew his sword, and Cinder pulled a massive battle axe from its holder on his back.

“Evil King, I suppose you already know what we are here to do,” the larger man said.

“Yeah! We’re going to take you down!” the prince added confidently. 

William stood and crossed his arms with a smirk. “Oh, really?”

“You’re no match for the two of u…” The prince suddenly stopped and snickered, much to William’s confusion. “Wh.. what’s with the hooker heels all of the sudden?”

“Cinder” bit his lip, trying not to start snickering either.

William nearly set Sebastian on fire.

“It’s a  _ personal _ choice, it doesn’t matter!” he snapped, causing both of them to silence their laughter as a solid line of flames burst towards them. To William’s slight shock, Cinder’s axe seemed to cut straight through the flames, they instantly flickered out. Same with the Prince’s sword. 

_ Someone _ had enchanted their weapons, it seemed.

“Hmm.” William tilted his head and folded his arms. “Well, at least you came prepared, that’s better than I can say for the last time you and I met…”

“ _ Alfred, is his name _ .”

“Alfred,” he smiled. The prince went pale as the Evil King spoke his name. 

“ _ ‘Cinder’s’ true name is ‘Ivan’, and his weakness is… his sisters. Threaten them if it comes to it. _ ”

“And you.. Cinder, it delights me to no end to see you.” He smiled sweetly, walking forward despite the sharp weapons being held in his direction.

“Why?” Ivan glared.

“Well Cinder…” He began to walk around him, the axe was big and intimidating, but nothing he couldn’t handle if he did this right. “..Ivan…” He continued, letting the name roll off his tongue in a lowered voice. “I really don’t have any issue with you, so how about you take off your nice shoes, and leave them here, and we’ll call it a day, hmm?”

“ _ Oh just cut off his legs and save the monologue, hmm?” _

William grimaced and ignored Sebastian’s gorey advice.

“My…. shoes?” Ivan replied uneasily.

Alfred just started laughing again. “What, you don’t like your hooker heels enough?”

William’s even temper snapped in an instant, in a burst of smoke he growled and had the blonde boy high up against a wall, high up above the solid rock ground below. “ _Enough_ **_boy_**.” He hissed, eyes glowing “My patience with you is wearing _thin_.” The prince choked, and tried to bring his sword into William’s side, yet in an instant William unleashed his hold on him and let him fall to the ground, he heard a loud yell and a “SNAP”, he smiled happily to himself as he realized the blonde’s leg had broken.

“You idiot! What have I said about not poking angry bears?” Ivan said in a wavering panicked voice, as he realized he would have to face William alone… and hopefully make it out with the prince alive. Immediately, he took his chances, and approached to attack William. He was great at wielding his axe, it whipped through the air with powerful strikes, the blade so sharp it could split hairs. At one point it missed William and crashed into the ground, chipping the obsidian and sending a few flakes flying. William chuckled in amusement, treating this more as a dance, and less like a ‘battle’ of sorts, much to Cinder’s displeasure as he managed to just narrowly miss William each time as he moved around tauntingly carried by his smoke. William nearly panicked when the axe just barely nicked his arm and began bleeding. With the little injury, he decided he better wrap this up. Ivan nearly yelped as a ball of hot lava rose from the floor on William’s command right next to his foot. He managed to avoid it but William smiled as he flicked his wrist and a small little bit of lava leapt over Ivan’s shoulder and landed on the axe’s handle, melting the metal and snapping it in two. Cinder dropped it and looked between William and Alfred nervously. William conjured a fireball and was about to hurl it at the large man… when he thought of a better idea. He teleported next to Alfred who tried to whack him with his sword despite the pain he was in, but William was too close, and he smacked it out of his hand. He then wrapped his arm around the prince’s neck and held the fireball up to his face, the metal claws he wore on his finger-tips painfully poking into his neck. Causing just the slightest bit of blood to drip down the boy’s neck.

“No! Don’t!” Ivan yelled angrily… just as William expected. He sneered and stood, dragging the poor man up as he wailed in pain as his leg twisted unnaturally. 

“Take off the shoes… and you two can go free. that leg looks pretty bad, if you don’t get help for it soon, it might have to come off.” He grinned triumphantly.

Ivan hesitated, looking down at his shoes then up at Alfred, who had nothing but fear in his eyes as the heat from the fireball grew closer to his face, causing his skin to heat up and beads of sweat begin to roll down his face.

“I know they’re  _ special _ , but not worth a life I should think.” William cooed, though quite honestly he wouldn’t mind burning the prince’s face if it came to it.

Ivan clenched his fists and hung his head in defeat. “Fine” He raised his hands and slowly pulled his foot out of one boot, then the other. Pushing them towards William willingly. William smiled and took the fire away from Alfred’s face, causing the prince to let out a deep sigh of relief, letting him go, he grabbed up the shoes and reopened the door for them. “Have a good day.” his quipped as if nothing had just happened. 

Ivan wasted no time running to Alfred in his bare feet and running out the door carrying him and riding away on their horse, the both of them feeling humiliated and drained. 

William on the other hand set the shoes on a pedestal in a room he had made especially for collecting these things.

“Two out of five isn’t bad.” He hummed happily.

“ _ Congratulations _ .”

William laughed to himself and went to lay down to recharge his energy. “So, what do you think the most precious ‘item’ from the “fairest of them all” is?” He asked Sebastian lazilly.

“ _ I’m having the most difficulty figuring that out. Snow is very… private. They tend to say one thing but mean another.” _

“Sounds familiar,” William grumbled.

_ “Very funny. In all seriousness… I thought it might be their brother, who you took the lovely red hood from. If he shows real fondness for anyone… it’s him. Yet, he is not an item. You need to take spells very literally like that.” _

William made a sort of ‘harrumph!’ sound in annoyance. “A lot of these things seem to be clothing articles so…”

“ _ Ah… I have an idea. His heart.” _

“His… heart?” William turned and gazed at Sebastian lethargically.

“ _ Yes, it would only make sense, the spell starts with blood and it would make sense for this ‘precious item’ to be something he keeps secret… locks away and doesn’t let anyone else see. His  _ **_heart_ ** _. Which makes things simple! All you have to do is find him and cut it out!” _

William sat up and nearly gagged at Sebastian’s words. “You… You want me to literally grab his… his beating heart and…” He swallowed heavily. Something deep inside his chest, tried desperately to ignite inside of him.

“ _ Is there a problem with that William?” _

“I… I can’t gut a man! You’re not even really  _ sure _ ! Maybe I’d only have to steal his heart metaphorically. Or, or… what if this guy really likes a childhood stuffed animal it could be any  _ number _ of things!”

William was met with a long uncomfortable silence as his chest heaved in panic. He was telling himself that it would only be a means to an end… this man’s life didn’t matter. Yet he didn’t want to believe it… he  _ couldn’t _ .

“ _ Those kinds of emotions are weakness William, you know that. _ ”

William clutched his chest which had begun to ache again as the flame deep inside tried to fight back. He agreed, or so he thought, with Sebastian and yet…

“If they are weakness, then why do hero's call them strength? Why is it that it is something the happiest people in the world feel they can not live without? Why does losing those feelings…” He sobbed, the pain coming back with a vengeance “Feel like dying?!”

Sebastian laughed heartily, the reflective side of the mirror turning dark and clouded.. “ _ Are we really going to do this again? William think about it. Think of all the things you’ve done without inhibition from these feelings! You molded a castle out of solid rock, you successfully cursed a child and made the entire world quiver at the mere mention of your name! You crushed god knows how many innocent bystanders with your little fit back at my castle. How is cutting out the heart of one many any different?”  _ As Sebastian spoke, the mirror showed a gruesome image of when the old castle had come apart. On it, William watched in horror as a group of people who were so close to making out were engulfed in flames… and a terrified couple were crushed under a fallen pillar.

“No! No! I didn’t mean… I don’t want to be this way! This isn’t  _ me _ !” He sobbed tearing his gaze away from the mirror’s vision.

He found himself grasping onto the thought of a bush of roses bright and beautiful despite hanging over a cliff and pressed against jagged rocks. A long lost voice that had spoken so lovingly to him when he was a child.

He clenched his fists, and doubled over, beginning to hyperventilate as the pain overtook him and stamped out his feelings of guilt and heartache.

“ _ Do you still have an objection _ ?”

The pain lessened, but he still felt a long dull ache. “I don’t… want to see blood.”

“ _ Then get a huntsman to do it for you. I’m sure you could find some sort of nice collection of valuable minerals if you look around in the caves for a bit.” _

“Fine… fine.” He mumbled miserably, not able to help passing out again. Sebastian sighed impatiently at William passing out again, really this was so much of a bother.

\---

 

Despite returning to his confident, unfeeling persona, William still sent many huntsman and assassins after the fair Snow White. He managed to cheat a siren out of her voice in return for giving her legs. It had been a bit of a bother as the red-haired, sharp-toothed siren tried to give up her voice in return for having  _ him _ as a lover. William knew he couldn’t possibly hold up his end of the bargain, yet she ended up giving it up willingly for the prospect of legs to go exploring with. And thus, began the years of waiting.

William never aged, everyone seemed to stop aging at a certain point and he was no exception, he had a lot of time to kill. He set the occasional fire, terrorized a town or two… captured a kingdom, yelled at his failing huntsman, he needed a hobby to keep him busy. Without the terrorized people knowing his name, he gained many titles. Maleficent, Evil King, the Shadow-man, the Demon-King, and occasionally something less flattering by those who didn’t even want to give him the power of having a threatening name. So sometimes he got the lovely title of “Lord Dick-head”.

One kingdom sent a massive army after him on his third year. With each passing day he had sent another burst of smoke and darkness to further cover the world, this kingdom in particular hailed the sun above all else. They had fought when the Ice King had been trapped, and now they were coming to fight the Malevolent King that had caused neverending storms and blotted out the blue sky without any mercy or care. William was never a morning person, so when he heard the sounds of horns and drums early in the morning, he was in no mood for a drawn out battle. He walked outside casually, and the army showed no fear in charging on him. He laughed as arrows were shot at his head, and a line of men with long spears came ready to pierce his body. He supposed this was as good a time as any to stretch himself if they were foolish enough to attack him in his own domain.

His laugh seemed to echo and rattle through the minds of terrified soldiers. His eyes began to glow as if lighting on fire themselves. He seemed to grow and contort until his laugh turned into a horrible roar that shook the very mountain they stood on. Fire erupted from his mouth and with a swipe of a claw and a beat of his wings, the dragon caused grown men to scream and weep as at least half of their comrades met their end either burned to a crisp, crushed, or lobbed off the cliff. What was left of them made a hasty retreat and William slowly emerged from what had been the massive black dragon. He let out a sigh and wiped his forehead, rather relieved at the retreat as he was beginning to get tired.

“I suppose emergencies only for something like that, hmm?”

“ _ Really… you might have passed out if they had lasted for ten more minutes” _

“Really? Well, bedtime then.” He mused.

Not many armies tried to end him after that day which became a day of mourning for the families and friends that had lost their loved ones.

About five years later, William realized that even the cruelest of huntsman, to his annoyance, couldn’t seem to cut out the heart of the fairest of them all. So instead he gave the order for him to be captured and brought to him. Sure… he could find the prince himself, but he really didn’t feel like getting his hands dirty until he  _ really _ had to. Oh he could not count the nights Sebastian had berated him to just go and cut the prince’s heart out with a smooth dagger… swift and cleanly. It was seemingly the one thing no matter how rotten his heart, he couldn’t seem to actively want to pursue gutting a living person with his own two hands. 

During the sixth year, several creatures who relished in darkness came to serve William in his ambitions, for they would be very happy if the world would become eternally dark. The first were vultures who were promised all the corpses they could eat. A rotting buffet exactly to their liking. The second creatures to submit to the malicious ruler's will were Bats, who would enjoy having their bellies filled with fireflies and other bugs 24/7. The final creatures to submit were the rats who multiplied and fed best under the cover of darkness as well. Suddenly William found himself with eyes and ears in the sky, in the caves, and in the smallest of places. They covered all of the ground that Sebastian could not see himself, and William had a place to put the casualties of conquest that proved to be incredibly beneficial.

In the beginning 7th year, the notorious Snow White was dragged into William’s kingdom. He nearly jumped for joy as Sebastian reported to him that his minions had seen him and captured him. 

As soon as he was brought in through the ornate, shimmering black doors of his own creation, William had Snow tied up against a wall deep underground. He approached Snow slowly dagger in hand. He still wasn’t sure if he could do it… but he had to try. Snow glared at him and pulled against his chains angrily.

“I will take from you... your most precious item.” William said darkly, more to encourage himself rather than intimidate the prince.

Snow bit his lip. William took a moment to look the man up and down. His skin was pure white, unlike Sebastian’s which had been pale but seemed to have a shine and a blue tint to it… it was smooth and pale. His hair atop his head was pure white as well and his eyes a striking red.

William didn’t move. The man’s eyes staring at him… suddenly made it a lot hard. The horrid pain he had felt several times during his conquest seeped back into his veins, he kept a straight face but nearly weeped… wishing that this stubborn person inside of him would just die for good already.

Snow kept his intense gaze but began to look William up and down as he made no move to stab him and instead seemed conflicted.

“Are you… doing this because you really want to? Or is  _ he _ making you.” He asked boldly.

William looked up at the other man, coming out of his thoughts.

“He is not  _ making  _ me.” He replied calmly.

“Then why is my chest still intact?”

This time, William bit his lip.

“ _ If you can’t do it… I’ll help” _ Sebastian hissed in his ear.

“No!” William suddenly said out loud.

“No? No what?” Snow pressed.

“Not  _ you!” _ William bit back, yet he went as far as to tuck his dagger away.

“Oh. You talking to your mirror boyfriend then?” 

“He is NOT…” he began shouting, then swallowed and calmed down again, breathing deeply through his nose. “He is  _ not _ my boyfriend.”

“Fuckbuddy then?”

“My.. NO!” 

“Then what’s the deal? Why do you want to get the Ice King out so bad? For mutual conquest? You  _ know _ evil guys don’t work together. One  _ always _ betrays the other.” he stated calmly, seemingly unintimidated by the Evil King.

“ _ William _ .” Sebastian hissed.

“That… no. He won’t, our powers are better together.”

“Yeah, but  _ your _ powers are greater. You could overthrow him in seconds if he ever came back. So he’s probably going to use you as long as he can, then kick you off your throne when you least suspect it.”

William bit his tongue. It was logically sound… and it seemed like something the Ice King would do.

“ _ Lies.” _ came Sebastian’s voice, audible to even Snow White.

“Oh shut it you arctic lizard!” He looked back at William. “You know I’m right…. I thought you were supposed to be unfeeling too, so what is it for?”

William didn’t answer, the only thing he could say was because he already made so much progress. He slowly shook his head.

“Enough stalling, I will take your heart, and gain the precious item of yours that I need.”

A bead of sweat rolled down Snow’s face but he remained strong willed. “I hate to break it to you bud, but it ain’t my heart. Who “owns” their own heart anyway?” 

William studied the man’s face frantically but found no sign of pleading, manipulation, or lies. “Then… what is it?”

“My crown.” He answered honestly.

William looked horrified. “You’re head?” Somehow… that seemed even worse.

“No. Literally, my crown, my shiny, gorgeous crown that makes me look so awesome!” He boasted.

William blinked. He  _ had _ to be lying.

“You’re… crown.” He moved forward and snatched it off his head. “THIS thing is the item you care about most?!” He shrieked in the other man’s face.

“Don’t get your panties in a wad asshole. Yeah, If I had to pick a  _ thing _ that I own that I cared a lot for then… yeah.” He nodded.

William gazed at the golden crown in his hands, it was a simple thing… pure solid gold yet it held no gem, it wasn’t particularly fancy for it was merely a smooth curved shape, nothing detailed and extravagant.

“Is he telling the truth?” William asked while gazing at it and turning it over.

“ _...yes…” _ Sebastian uttered quietly.

William’s eyes grew wide and he grinned. “AaaAAHHH!!” He yanked the mirror out of it’s holder. “I was  **_right_ ** !!”

“ _ Yes….” _

“Who is ooHHH so powerful and all seeing now hmm???” He boasted proudly tucking away the crown. He then turned to the white haired prince. “Why is  _ that  _ your most precious item?”

He pouted “It was a gift from someone special, but it’s none of your business! It’s just… not worth loosing my awesome head over.” 

“Of course it is. It’s always something like a dead mother or a lover.” He mused as he unlocked the prince from his chains.

“ _ You’re letting him go??” _

“I’m not going to clean up his blood for no good reason.” He growled at Sebastian urging him to shut up.

“You… you’re not going to kill me?” The prince asked cautiously rubbing the red marks on his wrists.

“No, too much of a bother. Now go before I change my mind.” William turned his head away with a grumble.

The prince instead stayed in one place and narrowed his eyes.

“You still have a good side… don’t you? The Ice King couldn’t totally get rid of it… could he?”

William took several steps back looking horribly offended. “I do  _ not _ . I’m doing this for my own benefit, it simply  _ happens _ to involve not gutting you!” He shouted. “And what do you know of the Ice King’s intentions.”

The prince chuckled and waved his hand before pointing at William confidently. “Mirror of evil, if you look into it, or if the evil is allowed to possess you, you become a vessel of villainy yourself. And also… Feli...”

“F… who?”

“Feli. He made a deal with the Ice King, gave him something called  “Mors-cordis”... it gets you in touch with any powers you possess but in return…” He took a daring step forward toward the Evil King “...your heart rots away and you lose yourself in the process. But you, something in you is resisting still and the only thing that does that…” The prince’s smirk grew wider and William found himself hitting a wall unexpectedly. “Is love.”

William scoffed. “ _ Love _ , how horribly cliche.”

“Kisses from princes can fight any curse, and true love’s kiss is said to cure even the most terrible of curses.”

“Wh..”

“So why… if that’s the way the world is, would Love defying all odds be such a horrible thing?”

William leaned close to the prince, staring down his nose at Snow, hoping to intimidate him into submission. “I’m warning you, I don’t have the patience for your drabbles about ‘love’. I can, and  _ will _ still gut you if you do not  _ leave _ .”

“No you won’t.” 

Suddenly he grabbed William’s cheeks. 

“ _ Do  _ **_NOT!!!_ ** ” Sebastian shouted from his prison, rattling the glass of the mirror.

“Unhand m-”

William was cut off by a pair of lips on his. It was disgusting. He was a good kisser, but it didn’t matter when it was unwanted. Right as he moved to shove the man off, something began to break deep inside of him, as if it were a shard of glass being hit with a rock. Despite his heart never stopping its steady beat, ever so faintly he really felt it, and this time it didn’t hurt.

The prince moved away from him. “Hope that gives you a fighting chance buddy.” and with that, he ran off to find his way out before the baffled king could get his bearings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel so bad for William right now D:. I still promise a happy ending, but I will tell you now, there's going to be two archs to this story... and I think the first arch will be done in one or two more chapters. So, look forward to that!


	10. The End?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is it all over?

“ _ William… _ ” Sebastian hissed. William immediately arose out of his trance like state as soon as he heard Sebastian call to him, and the feeling of him trying to slip out of the mirror and possess him again.

“No!” He toar the mirror from his belt and set it quickly on the ground, stepping away from it hurriedly.

“ _ William, you’re not thinking straight. _ ”

William turned away. He still felt such...hatred, such contempt for those who stood in the way of his conflict. Yet… the part of him that was real, the part that had suffered, been beaten down was now angry and vengeful in the back of his mind. His heart ached. He sunk to the ground as his hatred turned inward. 

“I’m… such a fool.” He gasped out. He thought about shattering the mirror right there… yet as he thought to do it he let out a growl of anger at himself for still feeling as if he didn’t want any harm to come to Sebastian. He had to think…

“ _ William!” _ Sebastian shouted louder. 

William gulped, immediately getting up and leaving the mirror behind. He had to think, his uncertainty surrounding his plans and the regret and empathy was slipping into his conscious mind. He had to get away from Sebastian and sort this out.

He ran deep into the lava tubes, leaving the mirror to come back for later. He found a pitch black crevice where he curled up in and sat. 

He hugged himself and shamelessly wept. He wanted his glasses back, he wanted to be back wherever he came from… he wanted  _ himself _ back.

After a long while, he placed a hand on his chest. Sebastian’s curse lived in him now…

“ _ What do I do? _ ”

“ _ Nothing… this power feels too good. I’m weak without it _ .

He began to argue with himself.

“ _ This isn’t me… if this is what this curse has done to me, then there is no telling who Sebastian really is either… perhaps he and the Ice King are entirely separate beings altogether.” _

_ “There’s no point in this, you’re both trapped no matter who either of you “really” are. _ ”

Then, suddenly, William was struck with an idea, he nearly bumped his head as he stood up too fast.

_ “Unless… _ ”

“ _ Forget it, it won’t work. You’re not that special _ ”

“ _ It’s worth trying… and… this poor world can defeat him. They can’t defeat me if I go back to being like… like that. I have to do this carefully _ ”

 

===

William returned and picked the mirror up, yet he held the reflective side away from him and teleported upstairs to where he set Sebastian on a pedestal and set Snow White’s crown on its own pre-prepared stand nearby along with the other items he collected. All that was left was the blood of the princess he had already cursed. He’d have to last 9 more years....

“We’re going to take a break Sebastian, we have nothing but time at this point.”

“ _ You’re not going to  _ **_leave_ ** _ me here are you?” _

“Yes… I am. But I’ll be around. You’ll see. You always do.” He spoke quietly, keeping his mind calm.

With that, William added several floors to his dwelling, creating a single tall tower that allowed him solace while still being able to see the outside world. Year by year passed by as he fell into silence. His dark cover of the world expanded and receded from time to time. He spent many nights curled up in his room fighting with himself. Some nights feeling assured in his plan, confident that he could hold against the poison in his heart. Other days, it was a long bloody internal battle where he couldn’t sleep for he felt as if he would come apart at any second. That any empathy he was still holding onto desperately, any sense of himself would be stamped out like his poor broken glasses.

He struggled for 9 years, he became pale as he only left his tower to fend off invaders. His allies became worried and unhappy with the halt in conquest, and most of them left aside from a single vulture who remained loyal to him. He’d sit in William’s window and watch over him and in return, William would conjure some meat for the bird to feed on. His dark storms slowly dissipated except for right above the valley. William would watch as sometimes curious folks would come hiking through the mountain to see if the Evil King was even alive. He was, and would not let anyone enter, yet he would never come out himself. The whole land, as a result, had 9 years of peace, where the seasons came and went in a way many hadn’t experienced in decades. 

And so, on the cursed princess’s 16th birthday, she was brought home mid-day as the kingdom felt completely safe about bringing her home to celebrate after having kept her in hiding with a couple of wizards. It was on this day, that William finally left his dwelling, and left the mirror behind, despite Sebastian’s furious protests he sealed it up under a dome of obsidian.

\--

He watched, in the shadows of the hall, watching the princess look at herself in the mirror. She wore her hair short, just a bit longer than a pixie cut. It was a bit unusual as princesses tended to wear their hair very long, but not unheard of. He didn’t want to do this. He had cursed this child as a baby… if he just, let her go… broke the curse… he had to conjure up a spinning wheel on his own as all other ones had been burned by the king, after all, he wouldn’t have to do this. The girl wouldn’t have to shed a drop of blood at his hands and she could live happily in the company of the brothers she hadn’t known she had for most of her life. 

William bit his lip. He was doing this entirely for himself at this rate. In a way, now it was for the good of everyone. If he could rid himself of the curse entirely, there would be one less malevolent being to terrorize everyone, and if his plan worked… he could get rid of the Ice King for good too.

He inhaled deeply and strode into the room. She saw him immediately in the mirror as the room began to grow dark. She stood up and whipped around in horror. He nearly scared himself as he saw his reflection in the mirror. Eyes bright, but face sullen, pale, and thinner than ever. He didn’t realize he had gotten so skinny that his cheekbones seemed more pronounced than they used to be. He had avoided looking into a mirror for a while now.

Nonetheless, he concentrated, calling to her, hoping to put her in a trance and make this easy.

Yet… despite his best efforts, her gaze narrowed and she pursed her lips angrily. He was a bit confused and didn’t quite register how little his powers were working on her until her fist collided with his face. An audible snap was heard and he growled in pain at the impact. 

She had broken his nose.

She had just… broken his nose…

A large amount of blood began seeping out of his nose. He was so shocked at being punched he didn’t realize she had tied up her skirts and was now coming around to kick him in the stomach. He toppled over and finally snapped out his own trance and quickly transported behind her before she could get her foot down on his face. He tried to grab her from behind. He nearly succeeded holding her back despite her thrashing, until she threw her head back, smacking him in the jaw. She then backed up and smacked him against the wall. The malicious part of him just told him to set the girl on fire and avoid getting smacked around anymore, but his goal was not to kill her. It never was.

She then pulled out of his grasp and turned around and clocked him in the eye, he teleported away again just before getting a punch to the stomach. He wiped a bit of blood off his face, his nose feeling stuffed and making an odd whistling sound.

He breathed deep, dodging again as she went to attack him again. He lifted himself up on his smoke, and burst towards her, materializing his arms to smack her and tackle her to the ground. She screamed, most likely alerting any guards that she was in distress. She thrashed around and tried to kick at him. He melted the floor and held the hot liquid up near her face to scare her. She looked up at him in horror, chest heaving madly as he pinned her down. He then let the liquid re-harden into rock and leaned close to her face. 

“Forgive me…” he whispered.

He then materialized the spinning wheel right next to them yanked her up and pulled her finger towards the needle. She gasped and wailed, kicking at him, biting his shoulder, anything. He thought he might lose his grip on her at any second, blood began to drip down his arm from where she had bit him in desperation. Then, just barely, right as she nearly had slunk away from his grip, the needle punctured her finger, causing her blood to slowly rise and drip down the needle, and she immediately fell completely limp in his arms.

He quickly took a vial and collected her blood… the final ingredient he needed. He pocketed it and then sighed, looking down at her. He teetered back and forth at his eye starting to swell and all the blood dripping from him.

“Jesus.” He mumbled quietly. He then heard several people rush into the room. The little wizard from before, and the girl’s two brothers. Ludwig and Snow White who gazed in horror at the dark figure standing with his dark cloak over their fallen sister’s body. He turned and stared at the men only showing the part of his face that wasn’t completely messed up, and without saying a word, vanished from their presence, taking the girl with him. 

\---

 

He dropped the girl off in his own tower, placing her gently on the bed. She had to stay cursed until he could unleash Sebastian after all. He took a quick journey to see the siren he had given legs to, and asked how she was liking them. She gestured wildly to ask what the hell had happened to his poor, puffy, bloody face. She took him to one of the forest pools that had healing properties, and too tired to protest, let her undress his torso and pull him down under water. Despite not having fins anymore or her voice, she still had amazingly sharp teeth and long hair typical of a siren. Yet she had no reason to truly drown him and still thought he was one of the more handsome men she had the pleasure of pulling under water. After several dunks together, his face was healed and his nose back in it’s original place without any sign it had been broken in the first place.

Sitting on the edge of the pool with her, she shyly tapped her lips, asking for a kiss in return for helping him. He thought it was only fair, so he indulged her. It felt nice to be around another warm, breathing being, even if he didn’t harbor any deep feelings for the siren.

He soon parted, but not before giving her a heartfelt thank you and wishing her well. He wished he knew how to do something other than curses, so maybe at least he could gift her with good luck or something.

 

He marched back into his castle and heated the dome around Sebastian and threw it apart. He grabbed the mirror furiously, heading to place the vial with the other items.

“I have everything. Now what.”

“ _ Place me in the center of the pedestals” _ Sebastian spoke with an excited hiss.

He set the mirror in the center, and it immediately began to float of it’s own accord.

“ _ Now, take the blood and drop it on the surface of this damn thing _ .”

William swallowed heavily, uncorked the bottle and dripped the blood onto the mirror, it seemed to smoke and cause the mirror’s surface to melt. William watched in both horror and awe as the mirror raised up, and all of the items lit up in a blaze of brilliant blue fire. He backed away and squinted as a bright flash filled the room. 

Within the blink of an eye, Sebastian stepped down onto the floor, his icy gaze met William’s eyes as the clinking sound of his blue cape made of ice crystals draped against the floor.

The Ice King had returned.

In some part of his mind, William wanted this to be a happy reunion, the one he might have hoped for when Sebastian had just been trapped… where they would embrace and be content to be close to each other.

But it wasn’t like that anymore… and he didn’t know if he could ever fully want that again.

“I know you’re going to betray me.” He said softly, he felt like falling to his knees, but he stood his ground, not moving his gaze from Sebastian’s.

Sebastian stretched, enjoying greatly having his body back in a corporeal form.

“Well at least you’re not quite as gullible anymore.” 

“It would be completely practical for two intensely powerful beings to rule over everything, but I know your ego couldn’t handle sharing the title.” He uttered quietly.

Sebastian sneered and stepped forward. “Ohhh so you have me all figured out then, hmm? Well then let’s not waste any more time, hmm?” Raised his arms, conjuring his ice for the first time in over a decade. William inhaled deeply and closed his eyes. He knew what he would do, and he knew what was coming.

All at once, William was encased in a solid layer of ice. He stood, a noble statue, he stance calm and accepting. Sebastian eyed him wearily, not quite trusting that William would give in so willingly. Yet, still he went about making the castle his and beginning to once again spread his winter across the world.

\---

While Sebastian was outside, he failed to notice the ice cracking across William’s face. An in an instant the ice fell away from him as William shivered and came back to his senses. He brushed some of the ice off of him. It was a risky move, but he needed to take Sebastian by surprise. He was more worried about setting himself on fire by heating the air just by his skin than he was about being permanently frozen. 

He ran up to his tower, finding monika still laying on the bed, small patches of frost beginning to move towards her body.

He looked at her guiltily. “Everything will be okay.” he whispered. He spent a bit of his energy creating a little heat pocket around her. He then looked towards his tower window and strode towards it.

“Only in emergencies…” He uttered to himself. 

He leapt out the window in one swift burst. He spread his arms and closed his eyes, about halfway down, the black dragon erupted from his form. The pressure from the beat of it’s wings sent an avalanche of rocks tumbling into the valley. 

He landed on the side of the castle and dug his claws into it, letting out a mighty roar. It was a bit dramatic for him, but he felt satisfied after doing it. Sometimes you just need to cry or scream to let all your anguish out. In this particular case, he turned into a dragon and roared to let it out. He turned his sights to Sebastian who was currently fending off Snow and Ludwig, as well as another very angry looking young girl with lovely wavy brunette hair. He couldn’t smile as a dragon, but he knew they were here for the sleeping princess. They all, including Sebastian looked at him, attention pulled away momentarily. Sebastian stared at him with a beast-like fury. William huffed, causing smoke to rise from his nose. He opened his mouth and aimed right at Sebastian, sending a cascade of flames towards him. Sebastian blocked it with a sheet of ice as he expected, but it gave him a chance to fly towards Sebastian and wrap his long claws around his form. And flew, giving the three attackers a clear path. He let out growls of pain as Sebastian sent sharp shards of cold ice into him. Each shard made him weaker, and finally, once he cleared a mountain, he glided to the ground, transforming back into his human form, sending both him and Sebastian falling to the ground. He clutched painfully at the shards of ice in his stomach. They weren’t too deep inside of him… survivable if he didn’t take anymore damage. Despite the pain he poured everything into holding Sebastian down, who snarled in his face.

“I should have killed you when I had the chance!”

“But you didn’t. I couldn’t always kill… and neither could you.” He heaved. It was taking everything in him to keep Sebastian down while remaining conscious. 

A few tears dropped from his eyes onto Sebastian’s face without him knowing. They instantly froze the moment they hit Sebastian’s skin.

William inhaled deeply. the ice shards melted as he kept a warm patch around him, and stopped the further blasts of Ice that Sebastian continued to send towards him, until he finally gave up. Looking up at William, who still fought despite barely holding on.

“Don’t.” Sebastian growled as William neared his face.

“It’s time for the Ice King to finally perish…”

He leaned forward, lips hovering just over Sebastian’s which were shut tight in rejection. “This is for both of us.”

He pressed their lips together. Firmly. He felt Sebastian’s skin begin to warm. He fought back fiercely and nearly managed to kick William off of him…

Until suddenly he stopped struggling and opened his mouth. William relaxed, both feeling as if no harm would come to him and not having the strength to keep himself up.

Sebastian began kissing back, and William felt a warm feeling spread through his heart. He no longer felt the deep pain in his heat from his inner struggle and the evil that was housed within him began to completely melt away, he also felt a great amount of his power slip away. He grew weaker by the second as Sebastian held him close, his touch now incredibly warm, and the snow melting around them. Grass tickled William’s cheek and several flowers bloomed around him. Sebastian finally parted from him, expecting to look into the eyes of his newly found true love.

Yet William’s eyes closed as his blood dripped onto the ground, tainting the beautiful lush green below. Sebastian stared wide-eyed and his breath hitched. Lightly trailing his hand over the wounds, wondering what to do. 

“No…” He uttered, the full gravity of everything he had done… what the Ice King had done hit him in the face. He had killed… he had murdered… he had tortured and now… he might have murdered the one person who could truly love him. 

“No! No! William you can’t die!” He cradled his head, his heart aching as he teared up himself.

“It’s not supposed to go this way. This isn’t… “ He sobbed feeling wildly for William’s pulse. He breathed a sigh of relief it was faint, but still there regardless.

Yet… if he couldn’t take care of him soon….

He would die. And even a true love’s kiss couldn’t bring him back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AaaND that's the end of arch 1!!!  
> Don't worry, there's more to come. I did promise a happy ending, didn't I?  
> The next chapter will be the beginning of a new arch. I'll try to hurry up with getting it out, I nearly cried writing the end of this chapter.  
> Poor William has taken such a beating in more ways than one, he doesn't deserve this shit.


	11. New Beginnings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The start of a new journey in more ways than one. With a second chance at life comes the consequences and aftermath of the previous one.

Sebastian carefully lifted William up off the ground, he had to find help… he had to…

He looked around frantically ready to hike mountains, until he realized three things.

  1. No one in there right mind would trust him
  2. He didn’t have any form of transportation besides his own two feet.
  3. His clothes were currently melting off, leaving him very cold and exposed.



He wished his Ice King-self  hadn’t felt the need to show off by wearing clothing made of  _ ice _ . He bit his lip, he knew William had been healed by the siren they stole the voice from before but that forest was at least a five day walk away.

Well he couldn’t just do  _ nothing _ . He bit his lip, feeling himself shaking. He unlatched William’s cape and extra clothing carefully, fashioning the cape around himself for some sort of protection from the elements.

“What have I done?” he uttered. He held William to him, feeling his soft breath and hoping it wouldn’t waver. “Please… stay with me.”

He had forgotten what it was like to weep for another.

He had forgotten what it felt like to feel.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps in the grass and the sound of a few crickets chirping in protest as they leapt away from the booth that threatened to crush them. He looked up, eyes wet and saw the little man with brunette hair that dwelled in the forest. He knew him all too well… his dealer, the one who had been there at the beginning of it all…

“You.”

“Me.” He said with an unsettlingly cheery smile. “I  _ told  _ you what would happen if you took it too far.”

Sebastian bit his lip and squeezed William’s shoulder. “Please, you have to help him.” 

The man suddenly frowned. “Why should I do that? Because of you, the love of my life as been through hell… you  _ burned _ his poor hand and we couldn’t get him home for  _ six months _ ! My own sister had to fight you to save the Sleeping Princess, you have caused this whole land nothing but misery for decades on end to the point where so many young children were raised not ever knowing what the  _ sun _ looked like, got it back for day, only to have it ripped away again… So why, “ he bent down and looked Sebastian in the eye, feeling confident in front of the defenseless man. “should I even consider lending you a hand.”

“I know, I took it too far. But you made a deal with me in the first place!” He bit back. He knew he didn’t have the right, but he couldn’t help it.

“You  _ know _ that’s my own curse! I don’t like it either!” He sobbed. “I just… don’t want you to ask me something again that ends up ruining everything just because I tried to help!”

Sebastian shifted uncomfortably, he wasn’t used to feelings of guilt seeping into his conscious. “Look, this wasn’t your fault. I got greedy and took to much, now I have  _ nothing _ . But it’s not his fault. It’s not his fault that this curse got out of hand.” He looked at William’s limp form and brushed his hair out of his face carefully. “But please, if not for me, then for him.”

The man sighed, and crossed his arms. “You know how this works.”

Sebastian looked at William and thought deeply. “ _ What do I have left to give? _ ”

“I’m not going to have anymore children am I?” He thought out loud.

The man snorted. “Not with him dumb ass.”

Sebastian glowered and thought long and hard. “ _ My sight? My voice?” _

“Give me a hint?” He asked timidly. “What do you want?”

The short copper-brunette haired man thought long and hard. “You have nothing left, and if I’m doing it for him, it might make more sense for me to take something of his.” He narrowed his eyes at Sebastian. “His memories of his old life away from here will come back once he awakes, won’t they?”

Sebastian froze “I’ve already ripped them from him once I can’t…” He stopped. If he didn’t give up something he’d die. His own memories were worthless, but William’s… they told of a whole other place with knowledge of things that no one in the land could ever dream of… he wished he could have learned more about it. 

“I have to. Fine. Fine! Take his memories of that strange place for good, but please, do not let him perish.”

The man sighed and bent down next to William. “Fine, but no take backs.” He pouted and placed his hands over William’s wounds. William’s breathing became steady and he shifted, coming out of his slumber. Before Sebastian could say “thank you” the other man had vanished, leaving the two of them alone. Sebastian almost didn’t notice that the man had been nice enough to leave him dressed in a simple black shirt and pants. Sebastian thought in amusement that the way the other man was crouching must have caused him to see something he really never wanted to see.

William’s eyes fluttered open, still bright like two peridots shimmering in the sunlight. 

“William?” Sebastian asked softly.

William slowly sat up keeping his eyes on him. Sebastian watched as William looked him up and down. He didn’t seem scared exactly, yet he seemed unsure as he slowly looked down at himself realizing that he was alive and well.

He stood and slowly moved away from Sebastian distrustfully.

“William…” Sebastian stood up suddenly and grabbed his hands. He flinched away from him, looking shell-shocked.

He lightly pulled William towards him, tugging off the metal-spiked gloves that covered his hands. They had become thin and boney like much of the rest of him. “We… you’re…” Sebastian had so much he wanted to say. He had heard the tales as a boy of everyone having a ‘true love’, when he had first seen this man peering so unsure behind that tree he had never dreamed this man would be his…  _ his _ true love.  He never even thought he would  _ have _ one at all. “I suppose we have a lot to talk about.”

He wanted to know William for real this time, no lies, no tricks. After having lived with the Ice King in his skin for so long he was eager to be transparent with the man he knew was destined to be his partner.

“No, we don’t.” William suddenly said coldly looking away from Sebastian’s face.

“Wh… what?” Sebastian said dumbfounded.

No this wasn’t right, your true love was supposed to be by your side always right? And he wasn’t the Ice King anymore! The curse was lifted! This should be where their lives began! That’s what everyone in the world knew!

His heart fell. William wasn’t  _ from _ this world. He didn’t know that anymore, but some things that had been ingrained into him from his upbringing had to have remained.

He pulled his hands away from Sebastian quickly, his gaze turned sour.

“You were  _ horrible _ to me! You manipulated me! You turned me into…” He bit his lip and ripped the black crown that had been fastened to the top of his head off and threw it to the side. “ _ That _ ! And I still don’t know who I  _ am _ or where I came from! I’ve lived with this for 16 years! Fighting with myself, feeling like something was crawling under my skin and strangling me in my sleep! Everything you  _ ever _ told me was a  **lie** ! And you expect me to embrace you because you’re my “true love”? 

“It… that wasn’t me as much as the “evil king” wasn’t you!” He shouted back.

“Well I don’t know  _ who _ you are, I don’t know who  _ I _ am! Any intelligent person would tell you to go fuck yourself! Hell that’s what I should have done the moment you opened your mouth!” He looked at Sebastian reproachfully, seemingly ready to fight physically if he had to.

“Look, we’re both out here on our own, and the whole world is probably out for our blood, they probably feel the same way you do about both of us… but that is why we have to have eachothers backs. We’re going to be hunted down, at least if you take a chance to get to know me we’ll both benefit from a practical standpoint.” He stated, he was being a bit cold about the whole thing, he knew. But really this was all too much and he hadn’t had to survive off of nothing for a very long time.

William sneered in distaste, looking like he wanted to vomit. Yet after a second, he crossed his arms and closed his eyes. Thinking slowly and carefully.

“Even if your the model of a good person, looking at you I only think…. “ he took a slow shaky breath “...of the Ice King, and how you,  _ he _ manipulated me into loving him. To think that… after all that you and me are somehow supposed to  _ really _ be lovers? I just…” He sighed slowly. “I will work with you for the sake of survival.” He uttered regretfully.

Sebastian looked away disappointed, feeling a bit angry as well. Wasn’t a ‘true love’ supposed to just…  _ love _ you? No questions asked. “Fine.” He straightened his face for the sake of moving forward.

“Well… the forests around this valley are full of berries and animals. There’s a village north of here at the base of the mountains. If we can get there we might be able to hope someone doesn’t recognize us and find work or get basic amenities…” he trailed off then looked at William. “Unless you still have some of your powers. If you did that might make things a bit easier.”

“What I… well I don’t know.” He bit his lip and held up his arm, on it formed a small apple. For a moment we both look relieved, until the apple rotted in his hand. He grumbled and shifted to lean on his left leg before a look of horror crossed his face.

“If… I still have magical abilities does that mean I’m still…”

Sebastian shook his head quickly. “No, you’re not still cursed. The Ice King helped you get rid of your memories when he kept giving you those sweet things for the sake of keeping you under his control. Those powers at their core came from  _ you _ .” He explained, he owed William some honesty.

“From me??”

“That’s why you were able to surpass me, the curse… well you could say it let you skip hours of meditation… study… self control, those sorts of things. For your average person with innate magical abilities you either give something that’s a part of you up right up front and skip to the end, or put in the time in return for being able to wield such abilities. “

William looked at Sebastian a bit bitterly. “Well, then perhaps if I keep trying I might be able to conjure a healthy looking grape.” He griped sarcastically.

Sebastian chuckled a little bit at William’s sarcasm, which earned him a glare. He quickly coughed and stuck his hands in his pockets. “Well er… then shall we..?”

“Lead the way.” William snapped at him.

Sebastian begrudgingly lead the way forward. With every single step their moods became fouler. The day sun was directly overhead, the field they were in while lovely, gave the two incredibly pale men absolutely no shelter from its  heat. The sun itself was attempting to take revenge on them for being covered up for so long.

“Do you have any of your ice powers left? Because that would be really helpful right now.” William grumbled. Both of them clad in all black clothing wasn’t helping anything either.

“No. Unlike you, I was gifted with absolutely no innate abilities.” Sebastian muttered in frustration.

“Is that why you became so power hungry then? So jealous and petty that other people had power so you became greedy for it?” William snipped at him, fully intending to test the other man.

“You shouldn’t assume things about people when you don’t even know half of their story.” Sebastian hissed.

“Oh I’m  _ so _ sorry if I offended you, your  _ highness _ . Its not too far of a logical leap for someone who willingly craved power and took a potion with full knowledge of what it would do and then proceeded to  _ manipulate _ me to do the same for your own thirst for glory.” William, still under the impression that the man before him was still as cold-hearted as ever, had no restraints of unleashing the full bitterness that had built up for the last 17 years.

“Its not..! It’s more complicated than that! And I am  _ not _ power hungry.” Sebastian snapped back.

“Could have fooled me.” William growled, shading his eyes from the intense sunlight. 

Sebastian stopped, and took a deep breath, clenching his fists. “Look. I did some awful, awful, things as the  _ Ice King _ , and I made horrible decisions before that. But do you mind not assuming all of this about me to fit me into your hole about being the bad guy right now? I know you hate me, I get it…” He paused. He didn’t know saying out loud that someone ‘hated’ him would sting his heart so bad. “And I know you're looking for reasons to lash out at me because the Ice King isn’t around for you to beat up…” He sighed slowly, trying to calm down. “But if you're going to hate me despite the fact you're supposed to be my true love, at least do it for the right reasons and not because of the story you’ve told yourself? We don’t have time for that right now.” With that he turned his back on William, walking with his eyes fixed on his feet. William didn’t respond, going completely quiet as the walked, their throats becoming dry like they had swallowed mouthfuls of sand.

 

This was going to be a longer  journey than either of them had expected. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this second arc is going to have a lighter tone, with more time spent on the relationship now that both of them have been to hell and back. Yet I'm planning some interesting adventures for these two. Because what's a fantasy novel without lots of adventures?? And these two need to get out and see the world at this point ;) 
> 
> It took me longer to write this chapter because I really needed to spend some extra time plotting the next arc, otherwise it was going to end up sort of sloppy. For example, I really loved writing my SciFi!AU with this pairing, but I didn't really plan it out, so even though I'm happy with it, if I were to do it over again I think I'd change a lot of things.


	12. Sickness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A man can't go through hardship and come out of it unscathed

They finally reached the cover of the trees as the sun began to set. With a dry mouth, Sebastian threw his hands up in exasperation. “Great! I love this! I feel like a shriveled raisin that’s been left out for too long.”

“There has to be something we can do for water,” William said quietly, trying not to strain his voice.

“I know some places with running fresh water around here. I used to go…” he coughed, “skating for fun down the frozen waterfalls and the streams, and there has to be lots of water from the ice melting on the mountain tops. We simply need to find where those streams are.”

William raised his eyebrows in amusement, the image of Sebastian, or rather, ‘The Ice King’, going joyriding over a frozen waterfall filling his thoughts and almost causing a small laugh.

“Well, birds tend to hover around water sources…” William said thoughtfully.

“Well,” Sebastian looked up, trying to see if he could spot any birds, “it’s a bit hard to see anything above the trees.”

“Maybe I could climb up to the top?” William said, leaning against one of the tall sequoias. 

“Sure, William, and break your neck in the process. Even if you did make it up there, the wind would be too strong at the top,” he pointed out.

“Right, right.” William nodded. “I’m not that athletic anyway.”

Suddenly William jolted as he felt something land on his head. It was heavy, and felt as if it had very heavy claws. Sebastian jumped and stared with wide eyes.

“Wh-What is it?” William uttered nervously, his hands shaking slightly, fearing it was something with more than four legs.

“A- well, there’s a… vulture, on your head.” Sebastian gulped. William had nearly died recently, was this some sort of horrible omen? His eyes darted to look at a heavy rock nearby, if that vulture even tried to peck at William…

“A vul… oh!” William put his arm out in realization. The vulture immediately leapt from William’s head to his arm. William looked at it, startled. “Whatever are you doing here?!”

Sebastian looked between the vulture and William like he had just seen a mutant clown shed its skin. A little hint of recognition dawned on him. “Oh, is this that vulture that hung around you? I honestly thought it was waiting for you to drop dead.”

William looked offended, and if Sebastian didn’t know any better, so did the vulture. “No! Charlie is a good friend,” William said proudly. 

Sebastian stared at the two of them for a moment. “Oh god, you must have gotten really lonely.”

“Yep!” William chirped with a maniac smile.

Sebastian looked off to the side and shuffled his feet. “Well, can ‘Charlie’ find us water?”

The vulture seemed to understand and flew off William’s arm, flying up to a tree branch where they could see him, and turned back to look at them, almost irritated that they were going to be so ‘slow’. Yet they began walking, following the vulture as it flew low, guiding them deep into the woods.

They soon heard the sound of running water and both let out deep sighs of relief. They ran through the forest, soon seeing the little babbling brook of pure, clear water dancing over the rocks in its way. William nearly tripped over a root, stumbling forward awkwardly. It didn’t matter too much as they fell to their knees beside the stream to dip their hands in and soothe their dry throats and cracked lips.

Water had never tasted so good.

William thanked Charlie, who gave him a dismissive look and went to go find something dead. When William caught himself waving at the bird he slowly keeled over and lay on the ground beside the stream. “Oh… god. What happened to me?”. 

When a parent is angry, but oddly not at the child a feeling of awkwardness and guilt prevails. Despite it ‘not being about you’ a child can’t help but feel they did something incredibly wrong for their parent to look so cross. Sebastian sat besides William, having an experience synonymous with the aforementioned example, hovering his hand over his back, feeling as though he should say something or do something yet didn’t know if it was welcome. He twiddled his thumbs nervously, the curse was ‘gone’ yes, but the scars it left behind, especially for William… such things couldn’t as easily be kissed away.

Slowly turning over, William met Sebastian’s eyes. Even when he wasn’t trying to show a sense of dominating power, Sebastian’s gaze was always peircing, like it could cut right through you. 

William hadn’t realized Sebastian was sitting so close to him. He slowly tore his gaze away and ran his hand across the grass, flicking a small beetle away from him. “Who am I, Sebastian?” 

Sebastian looked up and swallowed slowly. “Well, the Ice King hadn’t taken that much time to get to know you but… you didn’t come from this world William.”

The green-eyed man slowly sat up, furrowing his brows curiously. “What do you mean?”

“You came from another world. You’re not the only one that has, I recall you were running from an event meant for your parents to get you married.” He explained, deep regret sat uncomfortably in his stomach.

William’s eyes fluttered open and closed as he started at a fixed point. The man was trying so hard to remember, so hard to get a glimmer of a memory based off Sebastian’s words, yet Sebastian knew for a fact there was no way he could remember.

“I… gave away your memories for the sake of your life.” Sebastian blurted out. Something about William’s blank, struggling gaze coaxed the words out of him. Guilt was causing his typically silver tongue to grow soft and bluntly honest.

William stared at him long and hard. Frankly, the poor lonely, lost man didn’t know  _ what _ to think. He was alive, but the memories he  _ did _ have were only filled with years of loneliness… and before that, the Ice King. The Ice King was all he knew, it was his  _ life _ , the source of a sort of twisted passion. 

Sebastian leaned back, hoping, wishing he was someone that could speaking soothing words that would ease an emotional mind. He had coaxed a young lady or gentlemen to lay with him many times, yet he was sure that wouldn’t help in the least at this point. Yet, suddenly he realized there was something in his back pocket. Funny, he hadn’t noticed anything there before, he reached back curiously and pulled the item… item **s** as it turned out, to gaze upon them.

Sebastian’s heart lept, a sensation that nearly caused him to help and leap out of his skin. In his hand say a strange device, a phone as William had once called it, and a pair of broken glasses. He stared at them for a moment, puzzled, before awkwardly thrusting his outstretched hand towards William. 

“These are yours!” 

William jumped, staring down at Sebastian’s hand as if it were a deadly viper. Before his eyes drifted over the phone and the glasses. He took his glasses in a quick desperate scramble. They were crushed for sure, by his own boot of course, yet here they were, back with him. And the “phone”... he seemed to recall trying to explain it at one point, yet for the life of him he didn’t know what it was for.

“You communicated with it in the world you came from. Apparently you could crush candy and have a conversation with it as well.” Sebastian found his cheeks going a bit red despite himself. “In retrospect it was very interesting, I had never heard of such things.”

“I see…” William acknowledged slowly. “Thank you.” 

It wasn’t enough, Sebastian knew it wasn’t enough, but he had absolutely no idea how to make up for the Ice King’s deeds. “ _ I walked into this guiltlessly, and yet now I feel nothing  _ **_but_ ** _ guilt.”  _

“Maybe… eventually we can trade something to get your memories back. Then you can…” He paused, the words shouldn’t sting, he didn’t  _ want _ them to sting. The feeling of worrying for another’s well being felt like a thousand insects climbing down his throat, foreign and horrifying, and threatening to choke him. “...then you can go back where you came from.”

William’s eyes shot over to meet Sebastian’s down turned head. To belong somewhere, to go to a place where people knew him, to know who he was. A burst of energy that had been lost for a long decade entered him, something to hope for, a reason to keep going.

“Do you really think we could get my memories back?” his green eyes had a slight glimmer in them.

“Well… the man who took them isn’t entirely happy with either of us, especially me.” He sighed. “We have to give him something of equal or greater value.”

“What could possibly be worth my memories?” William speculated. “You traded them for my life and yet…” He looked down at his mangled glasses. “They can’t be worth  _ that _ much, can they?”

“To him, apparently they were.”

Sebastian stood up, planting his feet firmly on the ground before offering William a hand. “Well, perhaps, in redeeming ourselves in society we’ll find something.” 

William stared at Sebastian’s hand for a moment, glaring at it as if he would end up trapped in ice again if he did, yet he slowly placed a half-hearted hand in Sebastian’s and allowed the man to pull him up.

“Maybe we can kill a dragon.”  Sebastian smiled a playful cat-like smile that hadn’t danced upon his face genuinely in almost fifty years.

William huffed, smirking with the gentle chuckle. “What did the poor defenseless dragons ever do to you?”

“You’re right, only good despite my cruelty.” He admitted.

William looked at their intertwined hands. The warmth was… welcome, and yet, something inside of him still felt deeply sick. He was suddenly reminded of the Ice King’s cold hands touching him, luring him in. He felt nauseous as he battled between knowing how horrible that was for him, yet… a dark, twisted being that had only ever known the Ice King as his teacher, savior, guardian, unrequited love… missed it, wanted it back… wanted the back the power and control. It was rotten… it was a horribly, wicked, evil feeling. He shivered with an invisible chill.

“William?” Sebastian asked worriedly. The other man’s face had become anxious, closing his eyes in an odd sort of fear.

“I…”

William suddenly felt faint, yet he gripped onto Sebastian’s hand tighter.

“Something is wrong with me…” He uttered slowly. He had to let this out, he had to tell someone, even if it was Sebastian himself. Was it the curse coming back? Or something deeper?

The words caught in a web in his throat. Sebastian grew startled as the man suddenly stumbled into him, not because he lost his balance, but as if he wanted to throw himself into Sebastian’s arms and slap him at the same time.

“I feel… weak…” He managed to utter.

Sebastian’s heart sank. He had expected this, he was surprised himself he wasn’t going to this dark place, yet William… it was too soon, not right for him to be feeling like this now. A dark thought entered his mind as he feared the worst.

“William, do you miss the Ice King?”

The man shuddered in his arms despite the hot sun. 

“Yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think Sebastian and William are going to have a lot of fun adventures together in future, but I think power in this world is a lot like addiction, and I think the nature of how the Ice King lured William in is going to put a wedge in William and Sebastian progressing romantically right away. My friend sugjested doing a "reverse-redeption arc" for William, just based off what he's gone through. Maybe he'll end up an anti-hero like batman or something at some point.
> 
> I want to finish this fic lol, Sorry for the short chapters and slow pace. I'm having the middle point drop in motivation and I have two more story ideas for this pairing. But I'll push through!! (For this fic tho if er... anyone has suggestions of what should happen next, I'm open. I'm having trouble right now)


	13. Isn't it Over?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter! I'm sorry! But I'm just getting my ideas back for this fic, it's been a struggle for a little bit. But I've talked to friends and it's helped me find direction for this story again!

They continued walking, mostly in silence. Yet, Sebastian began to worry for William more than he had before. He was surprised the guilt around the whole thing was out weighing the irritation he felt himself from the sudden power withdrawal. 

Even though he had been cursed for longer, William had no identity, no history. The Ice King… and wickedness was all he knew. If perhaps, they could have been lovers after all this, they could keep each other from dipping back into a power hungry mania.

As Sebastian watched William still occasionally fiddling with his magic abilities, he began to worry. Would the curse come back? Could it? They were each other’s ‘true loves’, they were destined for each other, but Sebastian himself knew, despite expectations that they weren’t  _ in _ love with each other.

They finally found the town they were looking for… they were lucky all they got was a suspicious glance. 

“How’s your summoning coming Will?”

William tried to summon a bit of coin to perhaps pay for a night’s stay at an in. All he could conjure were sunflower seeds.

“Well, that’s something.” Sebastian said absentmindedly as he unshelled one of the seeds and turned to look at the job postings as well as other announcements that sat on a board in the town square.

“Something… but not enough.” William uttered in frustration.

“Well… don’t worry about it. I’m sure if I were to give myself advice, I’d probably say it was time I worked for something anyway.” He tried to reassure. 

Sebastian always thought he gave good advice, but he never seemed to find himself following it until now. 

His eyes fell upon a large news posting.

“SPIDER KING TERRORIZES LOCALS.”

 

“Oh dear, William, do you think he’s still pissed off about that time you set his spiders on fire?” Sebastian smirked slightly.

William’s attention focused on Sebastian then onto the poster before he furrowed his brows. “I didn’t mean to! But they were… horrifying.”

“Hmm… I bet the reward for taking him down would be amazing… He’s probably hoarding wealth himself! He is a self proclaimed king after all. That’s just what you do.”

 

William shook his head quickly. “Nooo no no, we aren’t going to go confront a man who controls  _ spiders _ . Need I remind you that we are  _ virtually _ useless and defenseless?”

“Let's get a sword or two then!”

“Sebastian have you ever  _ used _ a sword.”

“My dad taught me when I was little… He used to tell everyone I was going to be a knight or a prince someday!”

In reply, Sebastian earned a scoff and a tired “honestly” from William.

“Well, we’ll need to get experience fighting things if we’re going to redeem ourselves and traverse the dark forest!” He replied.

“Oh well, when you put it like that…. NO! What? Since when are we going to go to the dark forest??” William hissed at Sebastian in annoyance.

Sebastian looked away, toying slightly with his fingernails.

“We’re going to get your memories back so you can…” He swallowed hard. “So you can go home…”

William took a step away from Sebastian out of shock. “You… you would do that?”

Sebastian grimaced. “Yes, sure, okay.” His face flushed. 

“Fine.. but let's… not go into the spider’s den immediately okay?” William reached out and pat Sebastian on the shoulder.

Something happened however, and William found himself not wanting to move his hand. They smiled at each other for a moment, just mutually  enjoying each other's presence for the first real time.

After a moment of standing awkwardly in the middle of town, William leaned closer to Sebastian. 

“I think I can do it now.” William whispered into Sebastian’s ear.

“What?” Sebastian squawked, the hairs on his neck standing up. 

William suddenly took Sebastian’s hand, clutching it in his. Sebastian’s eyes darted from their interlocked hands to William’s face, his heart starting to pound wildly in his ears and his mouth dry up. He hated feeling at such a loss for words, but at the same time, it was a nice feeling.

That was when he felt the heaviness of gold coin settle into his hand. Oh… he got it now. William was trying to put it in his hand inconspicuously.

“Oh… Oh! Well good. Let's get a place to stay.”

“Can we find a tailor too? I’m getting sick of wearing such dark colors.” William hummed nonchalantly.

“Of course.” 

Well… wanting to be out of an all black wardrobe was certainly an improvement at least, Sebastian thought.

While Sebastian had sworn not to lie to William anymore, he had neglected to mention the reason for why he wanted to end up in the dark forest as fast as possible. While at first he was sure that the fact that they had kissed would be enough, Sebastian found a small bit of frost forming on his forearm as they had walked into town, and he suspected some seed of evil still resided within William as well. 

“ _ I know how to keep it at bay, I can just  _ **_not_ ** _ use my abilities and it will stifle it… but for him… I’m not sure how he’ll hold against this....” _

When they got a room at the local inn, after a brief trip to the tailor where William purchased a simple outfit made up of a white shirt and green vest, Sebastian lay down on his bed and closed his eyes. Yet he didn’t sleep, not until he heard the soft kind of breathing that indicated that William had drifted to sleep.

He carefully sat up. Shivering as the cold on his arms bit at his unfrozen skin slightly. He hissed as he suppressed a deep urge to cover the room in ice and feel that wonderful, addicting power flow through his veins again. He walked over to William carefully, bent over, and placed a soft kiss on his lips.

The other man stirred slightly, but did not awake. He instead turned over and softly smiled in his sleep, perhaps a nightmare had just turned to a soothing dream.

Sebastian smiled slightly. It was… unexpectedly nice to feel his beating heart that he had once scorned and willingly wished to destroy. 

With the slightly warm thought, the frost on his arm receded, but refused to leave. 

Frowning at his traitorous arm, Sebastian laid back down on the bed. He knew he’d have to tell William soon that his previous statement about the curse being completely gone wasn’t true, that they were still infected with it and needed to find a cure.

But for now… he would let him sleep peacefully and dream of happier things and the sweeter moments of life.


	14. Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We finally find out the origin of the Ice King, and perhaps Sebastian and William find something to bond over.

Sebastian felt something hard and cold on the back of his head, he rose, realizing he was in a dark room made of stone, the only light streaming in was from a barred window, where moonlight trickled into the dank cell. His chest heaved, he felt as if he wanted to be panicked and scared, and yet his heart beat ever-so-slowly… almost like it would stop at any second. In the cell there was nothing but piles upon piles of golden straw.

“ _I can get you out…_ ”

He had been here before, he knew this room all too well. The icy cold stone he sat upon he knew had once seemed so foreign and frightening, and yet that same cold and encompassed him and held him for such a long time.

“ _Let me in Sebastian”_

“No… No”

Sebastian uttered almost hypnotically.

He blinked and suddenly the brunette haired boy was in front of him with a sullen look on his face, the straw had turned to a brilliant gold.

“You could have grown to love him.”

“Never.” Sebastian responded.

“ _Never… Never…”_ an icy voice whispered in his ear.

The boy’s face began to elongate unnaturally, the form twisting and warping into a taller figure. The gold turned to ice and shattered.

Sebastian was now faced with the Ice King. He stood, his icy skin shimmering in the moonlight.

“ _You traded so much to bring me to you, and now you would reject me?_ ”

Sebastian curled around himself. “This got out of hand, I didn’t mean to hur…”

“ _What? For people to get hurt? Tell that to your wife… “_

Then came the words Sebastian had never wanted to hear, wanted to pretend never existed, the guilt he never wanted to face.

“ _Tell that to your_ **_son_ ** _.”_

A baby with no discernible features was suddenly on the floor in front of him… it didn’t move… or breath or speak.

“No…”

“ _But that’s different is it? Because…”_

The Ice King’s voice became less raspy and mimicked the way Sebastian’s voice when he had made a deal, that very day, in this straw-populated cell, much younger and naive. “I don’t want kids! And I don’t like the King’s bitchy daughter anyway. I just want to get out of here.”

“No! I’m not listening to this!”

“ _I can free you from the guilt… What’s the use of feeling anyway?”_

“No!” Sebastian yelled clasping his hands over his ears.

The voice suddenly shifted again, becoming slow and smooth… familiar.

“ _Ah, Sebastian… would you really turn away from me?”_

Sebastian gazed up as a metal-clad hand gripped his chin and forced him to face the figure. A pair of brilliant green eyes stared back at him. William smirked and leaned down. Green flames encompassing the room.

“ _I can make the pain go away… you’ll never have to think about it again… and you’ll have everything you’ve ever wanted…. you can have me.”_ William leaned in close to Sebastian and kissed his jaw. Sebastian wrapped his arms around this dastardly version of William without thinking. Shivering at the heat he emitted.

Was he… attracted to William? In love with him?

No… he decided. He pulled himself away from the mirage, closing his eyes and refusing it again. He wasn’t in love with William… he was attracted to the power. He wanted it… to hold it, possess it… control it. That… wasn’t love. It was a sick attraction, an obsession, that he desperately wanted to leave him.

And yet, the Ice King still had part of his heart, and the Ice King wanted Sebastian back no matter how much it took or what had to be lost in the process.

 

\----

 

William awoke in the early morning when the sun was just beginning to set the sky on fire. He had the odd sensation of his lips tingling as he sat up and stretched his arms above his head. Sleepily, his eyes drifted over to Sebastian’s sleeping form. He nearly leapt out of his own skin, gasping and forgetting to breathe at what he saw.

A thin spread of ice was beginning to cover the bed sheets below Sebastian’s left arm. He immediately darted to Sebastian’s side and knelt besides the bed, lightly picking up Sebastian’s arm and quietly rolling up his sleeve. Sebastian’s skin was beginning to look almost blue and crystalline just as it once had.

“ _Are we not true loves? No, we must be, neither of us are born true royalty…”_

He bit his lip. Did Sebastian know? Had this cropped up in his sleep? Regardless, he couldn’t let this just sit there.

He leaned in and softly kissed Sebastian, curiously turning to watch the ice receded back into his skin.

It seemed to keep it at bay, but why did it come back? Even now, after everything? Weren’t “true love’s kisses” supposed to be the ‘ultimate cure’? The kiss William had received from Snow White had done almost nothing (though just enough) for William, there was no doubt they were “true loves” there.

An offhanded thought struck William. “ _Does it matter if you're actually in love or not? Is that why the curse is still here? We aren’t… “in love”?_ ”

William supposed Sebastian wasn’t aware of such a thing, otherwise he might have said something. There was also of course the possibility that “just a kiss” couldn’t cure them, perhaps this ran so deep it had to be rectified by something else.

He sighed deeply. He supposed they’d have to kiss every now and then to keep this evil from overtaking them once more.

He began lightly shaking Sebastian awake.

Sebastian woke with a slight start, inhaling deeply before looking at William with what seemed like relief.

William cocked one eyebrow up higher than the other. “Bad dreams?”

Sebastian shivered. “You could say that.”

He sat up and realized William was sitting, perched on the bed with him.

“Your arm was frozen.” William stated quickly and unceremoniously, looking away from Sebastian’s eyes quickly. “The bed too, somewhat.”

Sebastian looked at William alarmed.

“ _It had spread that quickly?”_

“So I can only conclude that the curse is still alive and well in both of us.”

Sebastian nodded slowly. On one hand this took breaking the news off his shoulders, but he wasn’t entirely sure how William was keeping a cool head about this.

“Because of this, I suggest we agree on a schedule.”

Immediately, Sebastian’s eyes widened a little bit. He sort of wanted to laugh. “A… kissing schedule?” His voice cracked slightly on the “-dule” of “Schedule”, his voice hiccuping on the last syllable as he suppressed a giggle.

William narrowed his eyes. “Don’t be so immature! I know it sounds ridiculous, but unless we want to lose ourselves…” He paused and swallowed, hard. “...we’re just going to have to deal with it.”

Sebastian suppressed his chuckles and turned to sit next to William on the bed.

“Right… so what do you suggest the schedule be.”

“Well… perhaps once to wake up and once before bed… and adjust as needed.”

Sebastian slowly nodded, not able to help a small smile.

“Sounds reasonable.”

“Very well, I’m glad we agree.”

Sebastian proudly moved in “Well then…” He started to lean in to William’s face when he suddenly was met with a hand blocking him. He looked at William confused as the other man closed his eyes and sighed.

After the delay, William removed his hand and they lightly touched their lips together, sharing a brief kiss.

It was refreshing if a bit short.

William then abruptly stood up with a murmur that sounded like “I smell toast downstairs.”

And with that they dressed and headed downstairs to enjoy the breakfast the Inn had prepared for the guests.

The next few days were rather mundane, they bought a few swords and used the coin that William was vaguely able to generate (each time he did he became better at it), and began trying to learn to use them. Sebastian seemed to pick it up rather quickly, but William quickly became disgruntled with how “unruly” the thing was, and how much he “hated fighting close up to people”. William, as Sebastian noted seemed to freeze up when his object of attack was too close, even if it was a practice dummy made out of hay.

“Perhaps, William, you're not made for close-combat. Perhaps you could take up archery?”

This subject… William seemed to be gifted in. As soon as he learned to hold and fire an arrow, he could his his target precisely, the practice was merely to get quick at it. A rather nice fellow in town, a retired member of the sun kingdom’s royal army, was nice enough to show William how to hold several arrows in one hand and fire them in quick succession.

“An archer has to be fast, and precise, even in motion”  the man had said. “The best archers can shoot another arrow right out of the air, and hit their targets even while on horseback. If you practice enough, you can hold the arrows in your draw hand. But this will take a lot of time and practice”

William was clumsy at firing fast for a while. A rogue arrow nearly gave Sebastian a heart attack as it had flown a bit to close to his head. Yet he seemed to get the hang of it as quickly as Sebastian was picking up the use of his sword.

The days began turning into weeks, which turned into months. Sebastian and William shared their kisses in the morning, and the evening, and once before lunch when William had been in a particularly rotten mood. Their conversations were… short, and observational just as “It’s hot today” or “The left foot on that rabbit is bigger than it’s right foot.” they were growing accustomed to each other’s presence, and yet they had no idea what to do with each other.

 

\---

 

William’s arrow caught in an apple off a tree and flew to the ground. William then promptly picked up his arrow and removed the skewered apple.

“So, do you want to kill some giant spiders _now_?”

William sighed and turned around, leaning against a nearby pine tree and biting into the apple half heartedly.

“I suppose they are terrorizing people, and it is my fault. Though, do you really think slaying the spider king is a good idea? I mean… I suppose he’s just lashing out because his subjects were hurt…”

Sebastian wrinkled his nose and made a gross barfing sound. “Their _spiders_ . **_Giant_ ** _spiders_.” he emphasized.

“Spiders have feelings too. What about Charlotte? “

Sebastian blinked. “Who’s Charlotte.”

William froze, and turned to Sebastian. “You know, I’m not quite sure. It just seemed to relate.”

“A spider named Charlotte?”

“I think she helped a pig not get eaten.” William said finishing off the apple and tossing the core to the side.

“A… spider named Charlotte helped a pig not get eaten?? How… heroic. Is this a story you’ve heard?” Sebastian asked curiously before stepping a bit closer to William curiously. “Did you remember something about your past?”

“No… I mean, I suppose I must have heard that story somewhere to remember it. It seems a bit silly.” he shook his head. “Regardless, we should try to negotiate first. If he attacks first, then we’ll be defending ourselves. But we are _not_ to provoke him if we can avoid it.”

“How chivalrous of you William. You’re practically a knight in shining armor already. Where’s your noble steed?” Sebastian teased with a playful grin dancing across his dashing features.

William rolled his eyes. “ _Honestly_. Though we should consider horses, it would make our travels easier.”

“Yes, my lord.” Sebastian snickered.

William shook his head and smiled despite a small smile that managed to sneak onto his face.

They did wind up buying two horses from a stable outside of town. Sebastian fell in love with a mostly black horse with white spots, who he decided to call “Cerberus”.

William thought the name was a mouthful. He picked out a healthy looking stallion, calling him “Nexus”.

As soon as they began riding, Sebastian took off on Cerberus excitedly yelling “ADVENTUREEEEE!!!” like an overzealous idiot.

William shook his head and smiled, leaning forward as he encouraged Nexus to run as well, galloping forth to catch up to Sebastian.

“You're insane!” William called as soon as he caught up to Sebastian.

“The best people are, don’t you think?” He grinned excitedly.

They rode together, high off the feeling of covering so much ground and going off to face their first challenge. They set up camp that evening on a grassy hill where the horses were able to feed and sleep.

They kissed quickly without really thinking, it had become a habit at this point as much as saying “good night” despite not being romantically involved as far as they knew. William sighed as he watched the stars overhead, the sight of something so pure and beautiful allowed his mind to wander, sorting through the various questions and thoughts that had previously been pushed aside.

“Sebastian?” He asked calmly.

“Hmm?” Sebastian turned over on his side to face William.

“How… did you wind up gaining your powers?”

Sebastian’s face fell slightly. He had known he would have to tell William at some point, but now that point was here, and he couldn’t avoid it.

“I… did something awful, in the beginning it was out of desperation to save my own skin, and frankly I had been raised to grasp for power and control whenever I could.”

William turned on his side and propped his head on his arm, signaling to Sebastian he wanted to hear the whole story.

Sebastian breathed deeply and began to tell his tale.

 

 

 

**The True Tale Of Sebastian Michaelis **

 

I was born into a poor family

My parents both worked very hard to make ends meet.

Every meal was made after hours of backbreaking labor in the fields.

We were barely able to keep much of anything we grew.

The food we slaved to grow was sent to the royal families,

no doubt for them to dine and waste without a care.

 

My father and mother wanted better for me

and they had grown bitter about this life they had been given.

My father would always brag, telling outlandish tales.

He told tales about me possessing magic I never had

bragged about imaginary skills…

they were all fake… because I had no real talent to brag of

that’s what they said.

 

They told me I had no skills because they were tired

but also because I knew it was true.

I’d always go along with my father’s bragging

helping him in the ruse

maintaining a confident smile for his approval.

 

Until one day opportunity struck.

The King was parading through his kingdom,

on his way home from a diplomatic meeting.

We suddenly became lucky, he wished to stop at our home,

and feast on what little finery we had for lunch.

Most often this would mean,

if you treated him nicely enough

you might have some extra coin lazily handed to you.

Yet despite the fact we grovelled shamelessly at his feet,

he conveniently mentioned he wasn’t carrying any gold with him.

 

That was when my father made up the most ridiculous story yet,

that I… Sebastian Michaelis could spin straw into gold.

Well, I couldn’t make my father look like a fool  in front of the king,

so yes, for that moment I made him believe I could,

pointing to a gold necklace, which my father had

really managed to get for my mother

for their engagement, as proof.

That I had spun her the the thing myself.

 

“If he could do that… why I’d give him my daughter’s hand in marriage!”

So, I was taken away from my family,

my father hoped I would think of something,

my mother didn’t want me to go, but she couldn’t argue.

 

I was taken away and brought to a cold, nasty cell in the castle’s dungeon.

It was filled with straw, I was ordered to spin all of it into gold,

before dawn or else I would loose my head the next day.

Well, I was locked in there with no way out,

and in case you hadn’t figured it out,

I had no magical ability, there was no way in _hell_ I could do it.

 

Hours passed, I think, I was awaiting my death,

all because of my father’s tall tales,

and the fact that I had no talent to speak of.

 

Suddenly, there was someone in the room with me.

He was shorter than me and had a look in his eye,

that held an ulterior motive.

But I suppose he had taken pity on me.

 

“I can get you out of here.”

Part of me, did just want to flee,

but I knew my family would be horribly disappointed,

if I didn’t bring back something,

and I knew I wouldn’t hear the end of it.

So, he told me he could help me spin straw into gold…

for a price…

I gave up my childhood. Sounds odd, but in fact,

I was only 12 when this happened.

And suddenly, I had given it away.

I became sixteen years old in a single moment,

my innocence stripped from me.

 

He gave me… temporary power

warned me not to get addicted to it,

or else I’d end up cursed with it.

“How could one be “cursed” with power?”

I wondered at the time.

 

And so… when the king came to see me the next day,

he was so mesmerized by the piles upon piles of gold,

he didn’t even notice my sudden shift in age.

 

I felt relieved until I was dragged to an even bigger cell,

with even more straw the king wanted turned into gold.

If I did it this time… I would marry his daughter and become his heir,

sharing in the kingdom’s wealth.

If I didn’t… well.

I was going to make friends with the  executioner's axe.

 

But the power I had received was already used up.

I thought I was done for before the boy came again.

He was amused and annoyed at the same time.

“This should be the last time. I won’t need it again!”

“This is dangerous… it’s going to cost a lot you know…”

“Like what?”

His next words were ones that would haunt me.

“Something like… your first born child… “

He looked like he didn’t want to say it,

didn’t want to go through with it.

 

“If you just wanted to get out of here, run away, live freely

the cost would be much lower. Your virginity maybe…”

I wanted to take his second offer… yet still

the idea of coming to my parents with nothing…

the looks of disappointment in their eyes?

I couldn’t take it.

“You can take my first born, I don’t even like children,

and I don’t even care about the girl I’m supposed to marry”

It was such a naive statement.

Yet, with a sad look, he gave me the power back,

and I spun the straw into gold.

 

I married the girl, became royalty.

My parents benefited by extension,

but I never really saw them.

Once, in person I spotted them at a ball,

and they could care less about me,

but loved the riches around them.

 

There was something else too, my heart had begun to slow,

I didn’t know what it was, but I had already become

addicted to the power. I wanted more of it…

even if it stopped my heart for good.

My wife adored me… but something in me began to hate her

hate the king, hate my family, hate everyone. It grew and grew,

until the day my son was born. My wife adored him.

The boy who helped me sadly came to collect his “payment”

in the middle of the night.

 

Oh… I remember my wife’s screams the next morning,

when she found the baby’s cradle empty.

I pretended to be concerned and upset.

But at that point… my heart had already begun to freeze

I found something new had cropped up within me.

I could make water freeze at will

I could easily conjure ice from the air…

 

Well… I had never been talented at anything before…

but now I was. And it felt _amazing_.

But I needed more… It wasn’t enough.

So I managed to find the boy, he didn’t want to give me anything,

but his own curse was that he couldn’t help making deals.

So this time… my heart was cold enough that I traded away my wife,

my marriage. Everything that tied me to her.

Giving up my natural right as royalty.

 

But oh… the power was more than enough.

I was no longer a prince,  but a self proclaimed king.

The anger I hadn’t even known I built up,

sent me on a rampage.

I froze the king and his queen,

for greedily locking me up.

I froze and killed… who knows how many people.

I justified it, for the small part of my mind that protested…

that it was their fault.

They were greedy,

selfish,

unworthy.

And they had to pay… they had to pay for it all.

 

I wandered the land I was gleefully covering in snow…

my parents had fled,

and my cold heart seeked to destroy them.

Yet throughout my whole reign, I could never find them.

 

\---

 

William watched Sebastian’s face as he looked up at the stars.

 

“I wanted to kill them…” He uttered, a sob almost making it past his control.

 

“The castle you were in… was that?”

 

“Where I went on that first rampage? Yes.”

 

William fell back against the grass with both horror and amazement. Then, he had finished what Sebastian started.

 

“Do you know what happened to your wife… er… ex-wife? Your… your son?”

 

Sebastian shook his head. “I have no idea if they're alive or dead.”

William furrowed his brows. “Not that it justifies anything, but your parents shouldn’t have been calling you talentless… and your father shouldn’t be lying to kings. He really could have gotten you killed…”

Sebastian chuckled sadly and closed his eyes. “Don’t start feeling bad for me William… I did horrible things. And they… my parents were right about me. I couldn’t do anything without cheating my way there.”

William bit his lip and unconsciously scooted closer to him.

“You picked up that sword pretty fast.” He stated quietly.

Sebastian turned to William again, eyes running along the other man’s profile.

“You did all of that yes, but it wasn’t of your own free will. You may have ended up targeting people that you maybe didn’t like before you were cursed, but… I’m not sure under normal circumstances you would have actually harmed them.” William sighed. “I mean… I tried to hurt all of those people because… well because they trapped you. If I had been in my normal state of mind, I would have grabbed you and ran.”

Sebastian smiled and closed his eyes. “I really don’t deserve your comfort Will, but… thank you. I’m glad you're here.”

William went silent for a moment, and Sebastian felt part of a blanket go over him, and the warmth of William’s body get ever so slightly closer.

“Despite everything… I’m glad I’m not alone.” William hummed.

They both drifted off to sleep, finally feeling as if they could work through this together.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So archery isn't meant to be shot one arrow at a time/with super careful precise aim. Modern archery is actually quite different than your master archers of ye-olden times. Isn't that interesting?  
> Look up " Lars Andersen: a new level of archery " if you want to know more about what I'm talking about. It's pretty cool. My jaw dropped the first time I saw it!


	15. The Spider King

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hell for arachnophobes... or anyone who isn't a weirdo that thinks spiders are cute or something.  
> But this is the first chance at redemption, so what wins? The crippling need to set something with more than four legs on fire, or regaining your humanity?

The morning light streamed into their eyes immediately as it rose over the horizon. They hazily realized that in the middle of the night they had ended up tangled together. William was the first to shuffle away, sitting up a little too fast causing his head to spin wildly.

Sebastian groaned a brushed off a bit of frost on his blanket, rubbing his eyes and wincing as his hand felt a little bit too cold.

William eyed Sebastian’s hand and lazily tilted over, where they shared a quiet, non-committal lazy kiss, as they had so frequently at this point.

Once they were more awake, they rode out once more, covering various hills, trying their best to take the less extreme of the mountain passes, but it was a slow ascent and descent over rough terrain. They took it slow so the horses wouldn’t slip and fall, or so they wouldn’t go toppling off the cliff side.

“I don’t think the spider king should be so upset, I mean… I can’t think of many people who like  _ spiders _ . I can’t have been the only one who bumped into one of those things and freaked out.” The thought had almost certainly been in the back of William’s mind for a while now.

“I’d have to agree with you, but the spider king is… not quite right in the head from what I can recall.”

“Is any self-proclaimed-king “right in the head” these days?” William proposed with a slight smirk.

“Hm… Not that I can quite remember, no.” He mused.

They reached the base of the mountain range at long last, the side the bordered up against one of the great forests this land seemed to hold. As they looked around, it was noticeably deserted for the most part. Until, that is, they came to the side that bordered the forest's edge. Several men and women were frantically packing, some with tears in their eyes.

“Ah… Excuse me ma’m, what might the fret be about?” Sebastian asked a nearby woman.

She looked back at him, sprigs of silver hair sticking out in odd places out of the otherwise auburn locks, eyes wide and face pale as snow.

“If you're going to be thinking of going in there travelers…” She pointed a long finger towards the base of the massive pines “You best be well equipped, those… things… those creepy.. crawly, horrible things… as well as that horrible misshapen king that dares to call himself a man have taken  _ everything _ from us.”

“Everything? You mean he’s stolen your possessions?” Sebastian asked nonchalantly.

“Worldly possessions are the least valuable things he’s taken!” A burly man spoke up in a gruff voice as he overheard the women warning Sebastian and William.

Their horses seemed to look at each other begrudgingly, despite their riders not seeming too impressed.

“Well what did they take then miss?” William asked straightforwardly.

A sobbing man in the back wailed. “My  _ SON _ , my only son…” 

William watched as Sebastian’s face turned from a calm smile into somewhat of a scowl.

Another woman wept. “My  _ baby _ …”

William furrowed his brows out of sympathy, Sebastian’s face only seemed to say “ _ of… fucking… course.” _

William nudged him and whispered “ _ Maybe this is our chance to…. redeem ourselves in a way, these people want heroic figures _ …  _ So if you please, stop scowling, you look like you're about to send them all to hell _ .”

Sebastian grimaced briefly before sighing and tucking a strand of hair behind his ear. “ _ He’s right… But how to come off as a hero? What would one of those princes say? _ ”

He didn’t know for sure, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him. “Fear not simple folk, for we are not mere travellers, but saviours of men!” Sebastian boasted.

William’s face fell as a bit of embarrassment sunk into his stomach. Why was Sebastian grinning so much? And boasting as if he was a large muscle bound man instead of the limber-thinner man he was? “Oh lord…” William mumbled.

Sebastian drew his sword for emphasis. “For I… Sebastian Michaelis the eigthhhhh.” he enunciated and gestured he sword towards William confidently “and my noble assistant will retrieve your… your childr… child… children.” He nearly choked trying to say the word but managed to get it out.

William wanted to drown himself, did Sebastian really think such an obvious over-dramatization would actually…?

_“Did he call me his_ **_assistant_ ** _? I swear! This man!!”_

“You… you could really save my son!?”

“My daughter?!”

“My baby!!”

The desperate townspeople bought it all too quickly, excited, and praising the two men.

“Yes, yes, it’s true. Together, we slayed a dragon, a dragon bigger and meaner than any of you have seen!”

William glared at him. Sebastian technically wasn’t lying, but he didn’t particularly want to remember all the shards of ice he had been impaled with.

By the time they left on their “heroic quest” that they were kind of already on anyway, they had been gifted with the scraps of what the townspeople could spare, food, water, and an old watch. William felt as if they didn’t even really deserve a crumb of bread… but to be fair he was still going to cook the fish they got.

“Assistant??” William hissed, their horses begrudgingly carried them into the cover of the thick woods.

Sebastian’s head shrunk into his shoulders sheepishly. “I got a bit carried away…”

“A  _ bit _ ?”

“A lot…” Sebastian admitted. “I was just thinking what a prince might say to people.”

William shook his head but smiled in amusement. “You must have encountered some egotistical princes in your times.”

“Well… I kind of was one.” Sebastian snickered. “So I guess you could say I have some real world experience.”

As they ventured into the woods, it was almost as if it was becoming night time in the middle of the day. The light around them seemed to be a sort of depressed blue that hung in the air calmly, it had the texture and feeling of fog without any mist to speak of.

They began to ride their horses closer to each other unintentionally, William gripping his reigns a little tighter, they began seeing signs of webs in the trees, massive nets of them tangled in the branches. A shiver ran down Sebastian’s spine as he realized some of the webs were covered with thousands of tiny little newborn spiders. William was going stiff, breathing deeply. Sebastian was sure the man had a furious urge to set the whole damned forest on fire, and somehow, even though they were attempting to redeem themselves, he really wouldn’t blame him.

William nearly had a heart attack when suddenly a large mat of web came into contact with his face. The poor man shrieked wildly as  he felt a million tiny legs crawling all over him. Sebastian screamed, trying to help William brush some of them off himself. Soon the little demons fell off William’s face as little tiny flames. Thousands of little flames suddenly visible. Without thinking, Sebastian found himself sending a burst of cold across the ground as the dry leaves threatened to set more of the forest on fire.

Sebastian both looked at each other with a mix of horror and relief, their skin crawling horribly. Without thinking they leaned over to each other. William grabbing Sebastian’s face quickly, and Sebastian gripping onto William’s shirt. They quickly kissed, quickly trying to disband the orgasmic feeling using their power had left seeping into their veins, begging to control their minds. They didn’t quite realize how tightly they were holding onto each other out of desperation and adrenaline for several moments as they came down from their high. Their horses shifted uncomfortably, obviously unnerved themselves.

They finally separated from each other. William taking deep breaths before they continued on. The further they went, the bigger the spiders got.

_ “At least I can see the big ones clearly…” _  William thought. He carefully took three arrows in his hand, scanning around carefully. The spiders, at least right now seemed to be minding their own business. Their breath caught in their throats as a particularly big one, with the legs the size of tree trunks, not unlike that of the ones poor William had unknowingly bumped into.

They had to leave their horses, instructing them to wait at the edge of the spider's territory, horses were incredibly smart and self-sufficient after all. The ground was now completely covered with spider web, the silky thing material clumped and stuck to their boots as they walked, both very glad they had tucked their pants into their boots. They walked quickly, not wanting to give any time for anything to crawl onto them. Some spiders slid their way down from the treetops, their many eyes seeming to watch the pair.

After what seemed like hours, though it might have been mere moments, neither of them were sure, Sebastian cleared his throat. “Spider King? I know you're close by… We want to talk.”

That was when William and Sebastian both felt several way too long limbs wrap around their waists and torsos. Sebastian’s breath stopped, not able to breath when he realized the limbs were hair, and definitely that of a spider's. WIlliam let out an inhuman screaming sound, he was not having it!

They were turned around, confronted by a half man, half spider. He hissed at the two of them, twisting around unnaturally. His torso was bare excepting what seemed to be a thin white shirt made out of web. Sebastian didn’t want to think about this freak of nature sitting and ‘knitting” his clothing.

“Come to burn me? To destroy my children??”

William raised his eyebrows as his face warped in disgust. “Children?” at that moment William saw something he wish he hadn’t…

What had to be at least a million little spiders were caked on the back of what he supposed was the spider king's abdomen. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to do more, scream, throw up, or pass out. Sebastian already made up his mind as he lost his breakfast.

William choked out a response. “No.. No we’ve come to talk.”

“To… Talk?!” The man hissed, several of his golden eyes focusing on William. William shivered as one of the baby spiders crawled along his back and onto it’s parents limbs. 

“Ye… yes to talk. I know you’ve been lashing out because I lost control of myself, but you should… shouldn’t punish innocent human children for my deeds.”

The spider king made a deep murmuring sound before dropping both Sebastian and William to the ground.

“Hmmm… you’ve both changed… you were like me… recently… yes?” The spider king spoke slowly and calmly “The Ice King and…” He looked at William “The Dark King? King of Death?”

William nodded slowly. “Er… I never settled on a title I was called by… but yes.”

The King tilted his head to the side, head popping unnaturally. “Why did you give it up?”

Sebastian stared at the spider king “Wait… before that, are you saying… you weren’t always a spider… spider-man?”

“Nnnnnnoooo…”

“What was your name?” William asked curiously.

The spider king paused, staring at them as if he had nearly forgotten his name wasn’t just “spider king”. His numerous eyes flicked to the side and he turned around “Claude.”

Sebastian bit his lip “Well.. ‘claude’, the reason we gave up our powers… well, we didn’t give them up exactly, but we found each other, and we’ve cured each other for the most part.”

Claude approached them quickly, nearly causing William to actually faint this time. “Yet you could still have the power back. I see the cold surrounding you, and I know.. I know you want to set me and my kingdom ablaze.” He accused “So why not let it?”

“Because, Claude…” William started. “I am not the Dark King. And he is not the Ice King. Those beings are not us, we don’t know what they are, but they have caused us to both do terrible things we would never want to do.”

“And besides… what is the point of power if you spend your life in solitude? If you're hated and feared by all? And what does it all lead to? Conquering the world?” He laughed sarcastically “And then what? Nothing! We do it because a curse wants to spread, it wants to… well as far as I can describe it, it wants to let all of its buddies into the world. A curse needs a host to live… what kind of life is it to be controlled and fed off of for all eternity.”

Claude paused, looking a bit fearful before hissing again aggressively.”No…”

The spider king didn’t disagree with them, but William saw it… a spark of resistance in this warped being.

“How long have you been this way Claude? I’m guessing by the changes to your body… a long time.”

“.... A thousand years…” He answered slowly.

William looked at Sebastian curiously. Could a curse really change your body if left unchecked for too long? Suddenly an idea struck him. He whispered lowly....

“Sebastian…. kiss him.”

Sebastian’s face somehow managed to turn a bit white despite already being quite pale.

“What?” He stuttered in disbelief.

“Come on Sebastian… you're still technically a prince, he needs help.”

“But...”

“Please…”

“William… he’s got…” He gulped “Fangs… and…” He stared at Claude, who was spitting up some sort of odd liquid from his mouth, ignoring them for the time being to apparently feed his… “children”.

“...I’m not kissing that.”

“Sebastian, I know it’s gross.”

“That’s… a face only a mother could love… a spider mother.”

“Just do it you coward!” William bit at him.

Sebastian grimaced.

“If not for him, then for me. Consider it a step towards me respecting you.” William said crossing his arms. 

“By… kissing a disgusting spider, you’ll respect me.” 

William snorted, stifling a chuckle, but nodded regardless.

“Fineeee.” Sebastian whined quietly.

He turned back to the Spider King. “What do you say we make a deal?”

“What are your…. termsss??” The spider man asked curiously.

“You let those children go,” Sebastian stated.

“For what?” The spider king got close to Sebastian’s face, snapping his slightly unnatural jaws at him.

“T… this.” Sebastian managed to choke out. Grabbing the gross spider’s face, and smashing his lips against his mouth. He shivered at the contact, but certainly not in a good way. He parted rather quickly, rubbing the thick slime off his face, gagging, but he had no more breakfast to lose.

The Spider king reeled back, breathing heavily. All at once, his eight eyes closed, but only two reopened, and the others disappeared. The spider king shivered, falling to the ground. Looking almost horrified at himself and the other spiders everywhere.

William gazed at him. “Well?”

Claude hid his face behind his hands, looking about to cry. “Th… they’re up there.” He pointed with one of his spider legs. “Take them and … and leave me.”

William nodded, taking Sebastian’s hand to comfort him before starting to scale the short, but sturdy tree. There were several sacks he hadn’t noticed before. At first he was worried the children were dead, but he heard faint crying and breathed a sigh of relief.

Sebastian climbed half way and handed William his sword, and one by one, he released the children from their prisons and brought them down. There were three in total and one baby. As soon as they had them, they bolted, William carrying the baby and holding one of the children’s hands while Sebastian lead the other two, he temporarily set aside his disgust around children because… well… he found spiders a thousand times more disgusting. They all never ran so fast in their entire lives, the children sometimes screamed and slapped small spiders off of themselves, but they kept running until the reached the edge of the forest, and met up with Sebastian and William’s horses.

They soon saddled up, and rode back into town where they were greeted by a hoard of applause and praise. The children ran to their parents, and William handed the baby to a frantic pair of fathers. 

The whole village threw a feast in their honor. For William it was humbling. Sebastian, well, he loved the attention. They were watching several people dance as they ate, many people downing copious amounts of alcohol. Sebastian watched in amusement as one of the men was trying to coerce William into drinking more. 

“I don’t think… I… er… I appreciate that you’ve brewed this for so long but…”

William jumped as Sebastian put a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll keep an eye on you Will, have fun.” He encouraged.

William lightly chewed his lip, a bit unsure, before letting out a sigh and deciding to relax.

Neither of them quite knew how drunk William was getting until he tried to get up and literally fell onto Sebastian. Laughing in amusement, Sebastian propped William backup.

“Having fun William?” Sebastian asked as the man wobbled back and forth, attempting to keep his posture but failing miserably.

“Yeah,” He said grinning a bit goofily. 

Sebastian laughed harder at seeing such a silly look on the other man’s face. 

“But… But… hey… I wanna… lets…” He stumbled onto Sebastian’s lap, purposefully this time before resting his head on Sebastian’s shoulder. 

Sebastian looked at William a bit more seriously, raising an eyebrow. “Your drunk William.”

“Hmmm… you'reyour hot…” He mumbled, burying his face into the crook of Sebastian’s neck.

“ _ Oooookay, it’s time to stop _ .” Sebastian thought.

He pulled William away from him. “I think we should take you to go to bed.” He suggested.

William hopped up, nearly falling backwards. Sebastian stood up and caught him. “Yes… I wanna… let’s go to bed.” He babbled eagerly.

“We’re going to put you in a bed, and I’m going to stay in another bed.”

William whined slightly. Sebastian nearly snorted, it was so not something William would do, he fought for his composure, taking William by the hand and parting from the feast, thanking the hosts on the way.

He took William to the Inn room that had been set up for them, their horses cared for nearby. He lightly pushed William onto his bed, and bent down to pick off the man’s shoes. William grumbled slightly. Despite Sebastian’s protests, he slid off the bed, falling onto Sebastian with his full weight and toppled him over.

“Want you…” William mumbled, his eyes hazy. He was  _ not _ in his right head.

Sebastian sighed and tried to push his way up despite William on top of him.

“No, you want to go to sleep.”

William protested again, but Sebastian laid him back on the bed, pulling the covers up and over his body.

“Sleep.” he ordered.

William reached up for him, trying to pull him down stubbornly.

“No, William. This isn’t healthy for you, and you're not thinking straight.”

Sebastian figured, for all he knew, William was fantasizing about some other love of his, and even so… sleeping with him after everything, even if he was in his right mind was still wrong and off to him right now. Worried that even then, he would be taking advantage of William’s unhealthy addiction to power, and attachment to the Ice King. 

William grumbled but finally closed his eyes.

Sebastian turned off the light and quietly shuffled to his bed. He glanced at his forearm, briefly. The Ice hadn’t come back as strongly tonight, perhaps it was weakening…

_ “Or your kisses are beginning to mean more… _ ” He thought.

The thought was intrusive, it built up what he was shocked to believe was false hope… and he almost felt like he didn’t deserve it… or at the very least hadn’t charmed him enough to deserve such a thing. Regardless, it was too much. At least for right now. The curse wasn’t spreading as fast, and that mattered more right now.

Sebastian was just starting to fall asleep when he felt the bed dip next to him. He sighed. “William…” He started sternly.

“I’m going to sleep, I'm…” He hiccupped slightly. “Just going to do it here.” He said forcing himself in the bed beside Sebastian. “Don’t get your… your panties in a big wad.”

Sebastian took a deep breath before sighing to himself. He felt William squeeze up to him from behind, he allowed it, but he didn’t encourage anything to go further.

Before long, the two finally fell into a peaceful slumber, hopefully, to dream about anything but spiders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe I made myself feel kind of bad for Claude fucking Faustus. Yet, I guess, let that serve as a lesson of what a curse can do to someone.


	16. Reconciliation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What needs to be said is said, to begin to work through things, sometimes being honest with yourself and others is the first step towards finding the strength to fight back against adversity. William and Sebastian are both lost souls, struggling with beings that only exist to use and control them, vile parasites that seek to destroy them... but finally maybe something more real and true that has the strength to fight back is beginning to find its way into their hearts.

William awoke first, as he did typically. He shivered, head pounding as he blearily peeled open one eye. Some ice seemed to have climbed onto his arm in the middle of the night. 

He was faced with Sebastian’s back... who had seemed to have scooted away from him in the middle of the night, nearly falling off the bed as he was curled up at its edge.

Opening his eyes fully, William followed the trail of ice from his arm, to underneath Sebastian, it was sparkling ever so innocently and calmly in the early morning light.

“ _ It’s beautiful… _ ” William thought… though was instantly a bit scared of the thought. In spite of himself, before he knew what he was doing, he trailed his hand along the cold patch, until finally grabbing Sebastian and lightly turning him over. The other man was still calm, and sound asleep.

He could kiss him… he should kiss him… he was guessing they hadn’t kissed before bed last night, and he could already guess they hadn’t been intimate at all with each other.

He traced his fingers lightly over the frozen part of Sebastian’s arm. His mind went bleary as he stared at it. The Ice King just didn’t want William out-doing him… back then, that was fair… right? And the Ice King knew  then William wasn’t completely loyal to him. He found himself thinking as he pressed his face against the cold, not really in control of his actions.

“I want you back…” He muttered. “Please come back, I’ll do anything for you this time…” 

Sebastian woke feeling William’s warm breath tickling his skin, and the uncomfortable feeling of laying on Ice… that was when he heard William speak. His eyes shot open in horror, and he scrambled away from William, feeling dizzy from sitting up so fast.

William looked at him with wide eyes, Sebastian’s breath sped up, chest heaving. 

“William…” Sebastian uttered fearfully.

William crawled over to him weakly, placing his head in Sebastian’s lap despite the other man’s protests.

“Ice King…” He muttered.

“William. No… I’m not the Ice King. Even if I was, this isn’t right, don’t do this to me… don’t do this to yourself Will.”

William stared up at him.

“I love you.”

The words bit more than Sebastian thought it would. William didn’t love Sebastian the man who was currently before him, he loved the Ice King… he wanted the power, or maybe he just wanted to be around power. But it wasn’t right, it wasn’t right at all. There were even further questions that Sebastian tried to shove to the side… thinking yet again “ _ Do I want William to love  _ **_me_ ** _?” _ Perhaps not, but love or not, he knew the Ice King was not healthy for William cling to at all.

Sebastian swallowed deeply, he supposed he was going to have to be forceful.

“William kiss me.” He demanded.

William clenched his fist, gritting his teeth fiercely. “No.”

Sebastian didn’t want to do this, didn’t want to hurt him, not again. 

He grabbed William’s face and pulled it up. “William. This isn’t you, and you know it.This is the curse talking. “

“No… No… don’t kiss me… I want The Ice King back, not you! I hate you! I hate you for trying to get rid of him!” He spat stubbornly, trying to get away.

His words felt like poison slipping down Sebastian’s throat and into his stomach.

Sebastian, with all his might forced William’s face closer, pressing their lips together. William thrashed and tried to pull away, they fell to the floor, Sebastian on top of him.

He nearly wanted to scream when William’s nails dug into his arms, trying to burn the skin it touched.

Sebastian felt a few tears slip from his eyes, and onto William’s face without meaning to.

William finally stopped thrashing after several long minutes, and instead when they parted looked like he was going to cry, releasing his grip and slightly relaxing.

“I’m…  Sebastian… I’m so… I’m so sorry.” He stuttered. 

Sebastian put his arms around him and hugged him close, feeling a bit like crying himself. He just wanted to be rid of this curse, to undo the damage done… and he wanted William not to fall for the Ice King… and the addiction of power. He hugged the other man, just relieved he had been able to get a handle on the situation.

“It’s alright.” He hushed, rubbing William’s back.

“ _ Fuck, those burns really hurt…” _ He hissed unintentionally, feeling the wretched stinging of the fingerprint shaped burns. It wasn’t really alright, it was just something people said when they didn’t know what else to say to help a situation.

William pulled away, looking at his arm worriedly. “Here… come here…”

He pulled Sebastian over to a bucket of cold water they had for washing off their faces and helped Sebastian dunk his arm in it.

They stood in silence for a long while. The bed was wet with the melted ice, the water soaking through the mattress. They both looked down, not meeting each other’s eyes.

“You… love the Ice King.” Sebastian stated.

William winced. “No… … I don’t know.”

“But you hate me.”

“Sebastian.”

Sebastian turned away. He wasn’t even sure why those words were making him so upset, why he felt so mad… why he felt so hurt that he wanted to yell about it. He didn’t really want to tell about it, he wasn’t the victim here after all.

“Shouldn’t it be the other way around? What did  _ I _ do to you?!”

William clenched his fists, feeling put on the spot. “Nothing!” He bit back.

“But the Ice King did!”

William teared up. “I know! I know… I don’t like it! I don’t know what’s wrong with me. But he was the only person I ever knew! And I don’t hate you! You know I wasn’t in my right mind.”

“But he’s not the only…” Sebastian stopped. Of course William wouldn’t know anyone else, he couldn’t remember anyone else.

Sebastian covered his eyes. It all felt so unfair, he felt like they shouldn’t even have to deal with this curse right now.

Sebastian’s shoulders sank, anger turning into just sadness. “ _ No… I shouldn’t blame William, I shouldn’t even be lashing out at him. It was never his fault,  why am I act like its his fault the Ice King wrapped him around his finger… this was all my fault from the very beginning. The last thing he needs if for me to take out my crap on him.” _

He turned away from William.

“I’m… sorry for yelling. We’re going to get your memories back… cure this damn curse, and then we’ll find a way for you to go back to your original world.” He said a bit more coldly than he meant to.

William shrunk away. “Alright.” He said simply folding his hands together weakly.

 

\---

 

They left the town in silence, only speaking to thank the townspeople for their hospitality. There was nothing they had to say to each other, nothing they felt they could say at that moment.

Sebastian led the way, riding slightly in front of William, not saying a word.

William looked up and watched Sebastian’s back from time to time. He hadn’t meant any of it… not really. He knew he wanted to outright hate the Ice King… 

“ _ I do hate him…” _

He lit a small flame in his palm, feeling calmed by its warmth.

“ _ But this curse wants control over me, and his curse wants control over him again _ ”

He reminded himself of Claude, closing his palm to put the flame out. If the curses came back, would they end up like that? Barely resembling human beings? Mutated beyond recognition without realizing how warped they had become. Would Sebastian even look like himself if he had stayed the Ice King any longer? Probably not… because the Ice King wasn’t Sebastian… Sebastian was just the shell the Ice King used to control and dominate.

William sighed, riding up his horse next to Sebastian.

“Sebastian… I’m sorry…”

Sebastian stared forward, face blank. “You have nothing to apologize for. This has been my doing… from the very beginning.”

William pulled on the reins of Sebastian’s horse, forcing him to stop and look at him.

“You were a child, who had nothing, who was offered a better life… the consequences were out of your knowledge. You didn’t get to develop morals or a sense of who you are, because it was ripped from you because you were locked away and scared for your life… and your only escape was a man who took pity on you, but can only help you by making deals.”

He took a deep breath and paused, taking Sebastian’s hand. He wasn’t good at this sort of thing.

“And I don’t know who I am either, but I know one thing… I do not love the Ice King. The Ice King, the power is something I want to escape from the reality of finding myself… of having to work for happiness, for love,  and from helping myself. What I am attracted to his not being myself at all… because if I’m not myself I don’t have to find out who I am… and I don’t have to find out who you are.”

Sebastian stared at him before looking down. “I understand… it’s why I wanted that power in the first places. I was born with nothing… not special… poor… weak.” He furrowed his brows. “I haven’t had to face what I did… and that’s why the curse is so tempting. I don’t have to face guilt… or feel pain… But I don’t want that to ever justify what I… what the Ice King did to you.”

“It doesn’t… it only makes what the Ice King did to  _ both _ of us all the more horrible. He is not you Sebastian… as much as the Dark King isn’t me.”

The two of them stared at each other in silence. William reached out and tentatively wiped a tear away from Sebastian’s eyes, not realizing he had started weeping himself.

William took a deep breath. “I think… perhaps this is why, if we’re true loves, we’re not cured completely, despite making more than just a dent in it with each other. Perhaps we’re meant to work through something else in ourselves before we can move on.”

Sebastian sighed, and weakly pressed his forehead against William’s. “Perhaps you're right. Despite not coming from this world… I think you understand it better than I do.”

They both sighed, allowing themselves time to just… be, and calm down. Their horses looked completely bored, and had started chewing on grass and sniffing bugs that passed by, flicking their tails in annoyance.

William breathed deeply, and found himself slowly kissing Sebastian. It was calm and sweet this time, instead of rushed. He didn’t know how to feel just yet, but somehow he felt more at peace with himself than he had in awhile. 

Sebastian kissed back, lightly stroking the side of Will’s face, taking comfort in the other man’s presence.

After the sun had made a decent amount of progress across the sky, they finally began moving again, this time next to each other.

“So do you even know how to find this little man who keeps selling you liquid curses?” William asked jovially.

“Sort of. I know where he lives, I’ve tracked him down before… but unfortunately he lives in a forest that always changes.”

William raised his eyebrows. “What do you mean it ‘changes’?”

“Meaning, it never stays the same. Hundreds of people get lost in it. There’s a path through it that you can stay on that won’t get you list… but we have to go  _ in _ it. Not  _ through _ it.”

“Fun… wasn’t this the forest where we attacked that man we got the red hood fro… wait that dealer-man was with him! Wasn’t he?” William realized.

Sebastian nodded. “The very same. But we can’t very well just teleport and fly in and out of it, can we?”

“No. We cannot.” William said with a laugh out of dread.

“Well… luckily we only need to worry about a few creatures.” Sebastian chirped, trying to be encouraging.

“ Like?” William asked curiously.

“Well… Sirens…” Sebastian started.

“Oh like the red haired girl I stole the voice from!”

“Precisely!”

William smiled, wondering how that girl ended up.

“Anyway, go on, sorry to interrupt.’

He cleared his throat and continued, counting off on his finger tips. “Banshees, imps, pixies, ghouls, wraiths…”

William’s smile slowly started fading. This was a lot more than just a “few”, and none of them sounded friendly.

“Rodents of unusual size, Snakes, Bears, Chimeras…”

“Oh my…” William uttered starting to get intimidating.

“Centaurs, Trolls, Undead, Unicorns…”

William looked at him horrified “Unicorns? Why are they bad?”

Sebastian eyed him “Well, only the purest of people get along with unicorns. Would you call yourself pure William?”

William looked at him bashfully “In.. some ways, no…”

Sebastian snickered “Nor am I… even slightly, so if we startle one we have the chance of being gutted.”

“Oh god! Sebastian this seems a lot more dangerous than you originally let on!”

“I’m trying to be optimistic…”

“Optomis… Oh for the love of…”

Sebastian laughed. “Well we have a long way to go before we get there, so I’m sure we’ll have time to work up to it.”

William glared at him before rolling his eyes. “I think you're overestimating your abilities.”

Sebastian nudged him. “And  _ I   _ think you're  _ underestimating _ yours.”

William didn’t really know if he was flattered or annoyed, but then again, he never really knew how to feel around Sebastian anyway. He knew one thing, he didn’t really want to die being gutted by a unicorn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was honestly emotional for me to write.


	17. Catacombs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The walls are closing in, this was a horrible idea.
> 
> Let them out.

“Is it really necessary?” William whispered to Sebastian as they sat huddled together in a bush.

“ _ Bandits. _ William.” He whispered.

“ _ Bandits. _ Sebastian. Why should we risking getting…”

Sebastian interrupted. “Because, Bandits have a lot of stuff they stole and people they killed….” He paused, looking at William very seriously. “You know, my great grandfather used to be an adventurer like us, but because of a bandit, he took an arrow to the knee.” Sebastian explained.

“...That joke is incredibly outdated.” William grumbled.

Sebastian stared at him. “What do you mean? I mean I know my grandfather is bound to be old but...”

William shook his head, massaging his temples. “I have no idea, nevermind…”

He drew his bow back, aiming carefully at the nearest bandit. A bunch of them had taken refuge in a broken down tower, and were guarding it carefully.

“Is this really right? I mean they could have families…”

Sebastian gestured to a few stakes nearby. “What do those look like, Will?”

There were heads… heads on stakes of adults… and more horrifically, children.

“Oh...”

“William, we’re not here to argue about philosophy… it’s not that complicated around here. We could be doing a lot worse. In fact, we’re probably doing a lot of good here.”

William sighed and took aim once more. “Alright.”

As soon as he fired the first arrow, Sebastian went charging forward, sword drawn.  The arrow hit the man in knee as planned, and William came out of the bushes soon after, three arrows in one hand. He unloaded them into the bodies of three bandits that were charging at them. An arrow whizzed by his ear, he nearly panicked, but instead he quickly yanked the arrow that had just barely missed him and fired it back from where it came from.

It was a perfect shot.

He heard Sebastian yelling like a maniac as he charged inside the tower ahead of him. 

“SebASTIAN HOLD ON!” He shouted as he ran inside after him, grabbing more arrows in preparation. He ran inside the tower, darting to the side as a body dropped in front of him.

He ran up the somewhat broken steps that spiraled up the side of the tower, He lept over one body, before peeking out on top of the tower, where he just managed to catch Sebastian banging the hilt of his sword of the supposed leader of the bandits, knocking him out cold.

“Well, alright, fine then, just leave me behind… again.” William grumbled, walking next to Sebastian.

“Sorry Will, I got carried away.”

“Obviously.”

That was when the rummaging began. They found a chest full of dried meat and deer skin and nothing else. Sebastian stared at it in disappointment “That’s it?”.

“We need food to survive, what’s so bad about it?”

They head back down the stairs, William chewing on a piece of jerky, mostly to annoy Sebastian furthern.

“I don’t know I suppose I just expected more.” Sebastian uttered with a sigh. “All that effort…”

William leapt down to the ground from a few steps up so he could turn and look at him.

“What were you expecting? A treasure trove? If they had gold as a goal they wouldn’t be killing children for fun.”

“I’m sure plenty of wealthy people kill children for ‘fun’ , I was almost one of them.” Sebastian huffed.

“Well you can’t win them all, at least you got to get some agressiAAHHN!” William yelped as the floor gave out from under him.

Sebastian shrieked in horror  and rushed down to the gaping hole in the floor.

“William?!”

His heart stayed still until he heard coughing and he sighed in relief. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine. Just surprised, that’s all.” A green light emanated in the darkness in the hole below.

“Oh my…” William uttered as he looked around.

“What’s down there?” Sebastian called down, leaning over the edge curiously.

“Well…” William muttered, looking around, “Why don’t you come down and see?”

 

Sebastian took a step back, before running and jumping down into the chasm below, he didn’t quite land correctly, and instead fell forward onto William who groaned as he hit the ground again. They both lay flat, having gotten the wind knocked out of them.

“That was… farther than I expected.” Sebastian gasped.

“Moran.” William wheezed.

Sebastian smirked down at William, despite barely able to see him.

“Stop smirking at get off of me!”

“How did you know I…”

“SEBASTIAN.”

“Right… sorry.”

Sebastian got back on his feet, gripping William’s hand firmly and helping him up as well. William re-lit his flame. He gestured behind him to the pack he was carrying with them. “There should be a torch back there.”

“Mmm, someone thought ahead.” Sebastian said, going behind Will to rumage through the sack.

“Well unlike you, I don’t keep leaving my supplies with the horses… You're going to get it stolen some day.” William lectured.

“Well, I’ll have you as a backup, won’t I?” Sebastian teased, bringing the tip of the torch to William’s little flame, lighting it up.

William huffed and put out the flame. “You shouldn’t rely on my like that, take some responsibility.”

“Yes mom.”

“Shut up Sebastian.”

Sebastian chuckled before finally looking around at his surroundings, he mouth opened slightly. “Woah…”

The flame flickered across stone walls, they were in a dark, tight hallway. There was a smell that was unique to dank places that had been left alone for longer than a single human could truly comprehend. Sebastian ran his hand along one of the walls. “This must lead to catacombs… I wonder why the bandits were guarding this?”

“I… I don’t know…” William said hesitantly, stepping a little closer to Sebastian, slightly grabbing his arm.

Sebastian raised his eyebrow at William, confused as his sudden nervousness… so he asked, “Do you even want to bother with this William? We don’t know what’s down here, how big it is or how deep it goes… We can leave.”

“No. No, I’m fine, we’re down here, the… the fact that we never found out what this all was about will bother us forever.”

Sebastian nearly winced as William’s grip got tighter. He was sure William was being stubborn about the wrong things again, but nonetheless he bit his lip and looked around.

“We should mark where we go however, I’ve heard nightmarish tales about people getting lost for good in these places because they wander in without thinking.”

William shivered. “In the old castle I used to mark way way with lighting torches, but I don’t think that will work here…”

“I used to leave trails of ice… but well… you know.”

They both stood and thought, huddled together as a cold draft flowed past them, making a deep eerie humming sound if you listened close enough… and if your mind was scared enough to play tricks on you.

They both knew this wasn’t a good idea, but curiosity, stubbornness, and pride chose not to be on their side.

“I have a few spools of thread…” William suddenly stated.

“Oh… well of course you do, you have everything.”

“Tears can happen at the most inconvenient times.” He retrieved the aforementioned spools from his bag, three in total. “We’ll make sure the start of it is secure here… and simply follow it back.”

Sebastian nodded. “And if they all run out… we turn back and leave, no questions asked?”

William nodded vigorously “Yes… yes please.”

Having their way back marked, they decided to go left down the hallway. The air became more and more stagnant and musty with every step, the hallway itself becoming narrower. William's shoulder brushed against the wall, and they realized they’d have to walk single file to continue. Sebastian led the way in front, as he was holding their lightsource, and William trailed behind.

He didn’t know what was wrong with him, but William was finding it harder and harder to breathe, his chest felt heavy, and his throat tight. The pathway finally stopped getting narrower, but it was at the point where they had to sidestep to fit. 

He couldn’t take it anymore, he didn’t know why, but he collapsed onto the floor.

“William?” Sebastian stopped and turned to him. “Are… are you hurt?”

“No… I…” He stared forward. “I hate this… I don’t know what’s …” 

His chest heaved, his mind shutting down. 

“Get me out…”

“Okay we’ll..”

“Now. I need to get out!”

“William Cal…”

William reached out, grabbing Sebastian instinctively and viciously, as an explosive burst of energy surged around them. The rock walls exploded outwards, the ground below them shaking briefly, like a small earthquake. The rock around them glowed a hot angry red, melting as the whole area expanded away from them, until it finally stopped, leaving them both in a large empty rock room.

William’s face was buried shamefully in Sebastian’s chest. Sebastian, though in shock, slightly tilted William’s face up and kissed him, just to be safe. He then parted and looked William in the eye.

“ _ breathe _ .”

William took a few deep breaths and calmed down, shutting his eyes briefly, the crushed feeling being alleviated slightly.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me.” William stated calmly.

“I believe you're claustrophobic.” Sebastian lightly squeezed William’s shoulders.

“Oh… I didn't know.” William stuttered.

“Well… now you know something about yourself. You don’t like tight spaces. It’s perfectly…”

They both froze as they heard a long sickly moan. They froze, slowly turning in the direction of the sound. They heard something that sounded like shuffling, perhaps a bag of sticks or bits of metal smacking together quietly.

Sebastian put one hand on his sword and bravely walked towards it, slowing his breath. William took several arrows into his hand, squinting to see if he could make out anything in the dark.

The light of the flame reached what seemed like an archway, engraved with the phrase: “Reflecte gressum, hoc est mortuorum domain”. Neither of them knew what it meant.

The groaning came again, and both of them shivered unintentionally. A bit of ice climbed across the floor from Sebastian’s feet. He tried to will it to stop, but the sliver of fear was already there. Willaim stepped closer behind him, careful not to slip on the thin sheet of spreading ice.

A heavy breathing sound hissed quietly on the other side of the archway before suddenly stopping. Sebastian bit his lip and took a few daring steps forward. He nearly screamed as the torchlight what seemed like a human skull… no… not just one… many, the whole wall on the other side was made of human remains. All long dead. 

The Catacombs.

But they both knew what they heard, they glanced at each other, fear clear in both their eyes.

The moan echoed through the chamber again… but this time… it came from  _ behind _ . William whipped around and shot three arrows quickly into the dark. They heard two of them hit the rock somewhere down the long hallway, but the third one never struck anything at all.

William bit his lip and shot again.

Nothing, no sound. 

Sebastian strode forward, faster this time, wanting to face… whatever at was. If he only knew what it was, then he could fight it.

He nearly screamed and felt like fainting when he saw the two arrows floating in the air. It wasn’t quite right, the light seemed to warp and get confused as it passed through what seemed to be the shape of a grown man. They briefly saw a mouth open unnaturally wide then disappeared, and Sebastian drew his sword as a hand reached for him.

William pulled at his shoulder. “Look at the arrows, it won’t do anything.” He said, panicked. “We have to leave.”

“It’s blocking the exit…” Sebastian hissed nervously, as they backed up against each other, stepping closer to the catacombs.

Several long moans came from behind them once again, but the thing was still in front of them, reaching for them, looking caught in a scream before warping into seeming nothingness and back again.

“What do we do?” William asked Sebastian frantically. 

“I don’t know, I don’t know!” Sebastian yelped, heart speeding up.

“Oooooouuuuuuttttttt” The things all moaned, further moans seemed to spread and echo from deep in the catacombs.

“We’ll… gladly leave if you let us.” William stuttered, wondering if this thing understood him.

“NOOOOOOO!” They shrieked. Sebastian realized to his horror he had frozen himself to the floor as soon as he heard them shriek.

The thing before them seemed to fall to its knees, wailing and screaming silently, phasing in and out of existing. Glitching in reality.

“oooooouuuuuut!” they moaned.

“OOUUUUUUUT” They moaned louder.

William was trying to hold Sebastian in hopes he would thaw himself, when he suddenly paused, something dawning on him.

“Out…” He muttered.

He was taken back to that feeling he had, the feeling of being trapped.. closed in. How he could think about nothing but how much he wanted to get…

“Out!” He said affirmatively.

William bit his lip. He didn’t like it… but he’d have to do it, he just had to. It was worth a shot. He called upon as much energy as he could, taking a deep breath.

“William what…?”

With that, he sent as much heat and energy bursting upward as he could, the ground bent away to his will for a good 10 feet… but began struggling to go any further. He strained, gritting his teeth as a bit of sweat dripped down his face. Sebastian realized what he was trying to do. With the amount of effort he was taking… he was doing it with barely any influence from the curse, which was impressive on its own, but he was going to need more than that.

Sebastian racked his brain, he knew at one point he had gotten William to gain control of his powers rather quickly when he didn’t have the curse in him, but how…?

He looked at William’s struggling profile.

“ _ You only live once. _ ” Sebastian thought to himself. The ice around his feet melted, and he moved to stand behind William, He slowly stretched his arms besides William’s outstretched ones, pressing his body against his, bringing face next to William’s.

“You can do this.” He lightly caressed and massaged William’s strained, warm arms, then rested his hands on Will’s shoulders, squeezing them softly.

“You're stronger than you know William…”

William shivered and lightly relaxed, leaning back against Sebastian. His heart sped up, and immediately his energy shot up and the ground exploded outwards. A beam of sunlight entered the dark cavern. It soon split into two beams, then three, before coming back into one as the rock was expelled away. As soon as the light hit the thing, it slowly rose staring up into the sunlight. It morphed, calmly into a clear transparent silhouette of a fallen warrior.

“Thank… you…” It uttered, his voice distant and ethereal before disappearing altogether. Sebastian and William stepped back as they witnessed the light fall on the catacomb entrance, a long line of men, women and children, who had died long ago began reforming into their true selves, instead of a tortured shadow and rose into the light and disappeared. There were too many to count, Sebastian and William watched the souls disappear, having been allowed their freedom.

They stood for a while, Sebastian quietly put one arm around William’s shoulders. 

“Guess we can just go out that way.” He mused.

“What a waste of thread.” William sighed, leaning against Sebastian. He had gotten the living daylights scared out of him enough today.

“Better safe than sorry.”

 

\---

 

After they had clambered out of the cavern and made their way back to their horses. William looked at Sebastian and stated “We never did find out why those bandits were guarding that Catacomb entrance.”

Sebastian stopped, and turned to William. “Let's just say… so we never go back there… that was just an outpost for a network of bandits, and they were just there to keep an eye on the place they dumped their dead.”

William stared at Sebastian for a moment, raising his eyebrows before sighing and smiling. “That seems like a damn good explanation to me.”

William watched Sebastian from behind as he mounted his horse. Eyes unintentionally trailing along the other man’s backside. He knew Sebastian must be more fatigued than he was letting on as he was struggling to get on his horse.

Before really thinking about it, William grabbed the back of Sebastian’s shirt and spun him around. Sebastian stumbled awkwardly and looked at William quizzically.

William put his hands on Sebastian’s waist and softly leaned in for a kiss. Sebastian calmed and leaned into it. He thought William’s hand placement was a bit… unusual… but he certainly didn't mind it.

Sebastian was about to part after the usual time they did this had elapsed, but William put his arms around Sebastian’s neck, locking him into the kiss. Sebastian’s heart stopped when he felt what seemed to be William’s tongue grazing against his lips. His face suddenly felt hot and his chest heavy. He opened his mouth eagerly, moving his hands down to William’s waist and pressing the other man against him. It was new and exciting, if he didn’t know any better, he would have said fireworks were going off inside of him as they passionately and somewhat sloppily explored this sudden new experience. 

Their horses looked at each other, almost in amusement.

When they finally parted, they were panting for air, their breath hot against each other’s faces as a thin strand of saliva connected them briefly.

Sebastian gasped, eyelids drooping as he gazed at William as they caught their breath.

“What… was that all about?” He asked.

William brought his hand up to Sebastian’s chin and lightly ran his thumb across his lips.

“Let’s… just say for now… it was a token of my gratitude.”

Sebastian swooned at William’s sudden low drop in his voice as he gazed at him.

“That’s… some gratitude.” Sebastian pointed out, gulping slightly.

He watched in amazement as William’s cheeks turned slightly pink as his mouth opened and closed a few times before he finally said. “You’re welcome.”

They rode off, back on their journey, riding calmly and quietly together, as they left the catacombs far behind, travelling over hills, following the sun until it set over the horizon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've always found the most satisfying kisses come after a lot of shit goes down and a bunch of fear and panic had built up before finally being released. This was fun to write. I've been waiting for a while to get to their "real" kisses.
> 
> Also, I believe with this chapter this fic has broken past 50,000 words!  
> Holy moly this is my longest fic ever, and the most dedicated I've ever been to seeing something through. WOO!  
> I couldn't do it without your guy's support. It always overjoys me to see you enjoying the story, and it makes me so happy and motivated when I see all your sweet comments. <3 Thanks for sticking this through! The payoff at the end, I think will be worth sticking this story through.


	18. The Dark Forest I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Passion erupts between the two of them, yet even with exploring these new sensations, they must still continue and survive the terror of what lies in the hauntingly beautiful dark forest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter involves animal death, just warning you all!
> 
> Enjoy!! <3

William wasn’t 100% sure what had come over him, perhaps it was the pure adrenaline racing through his bloodstream, or the satisfaction of being above ground that made him feel a surge of affection for Sebastian. Against his habit of keeping himself composed, as they looked for a place to stay for the night, they kept glancing over at each other, staring, then getting caught staring. William looked away, trying to appear calm, but his heart sped up every time. Sebastian would always just smirk and kept staring anyway.

They reached the peak of a tall hill, and were momentarily distracted, when they saw, just down below, the beginning of a forest of trees that stretched on farther than the horizon, branches woven together in a close knit web, it’s canopy practically airtight. It allowed no light in, they could see nothing past the entrance and first few thick trunks of the massive trees.

“The dark forest…” Sebastian uttered. “Hmm… I haven’t seen it without snow on top before.” He uttered as he climbed off his horse.

“Nor have I… amazing how even then you couldn’t penetrate it with your storms.”

Sebastian nodded in agreement “A perfect defense for whatever lies within.”

They set up camp as the hill was rather nice, they had gotten their hands on better equipment on their journey, having blankets to sleep with and better supplies to cook with.

William laid down looking up at the stars, feeling the warmth against his cheek on one side. The sound of an improvised stew bubbling that Sebastian was working on, he found soothing. Occasionally he glanced over at the other man, his eyes focused as the light from the flames danced across his angular features and caused his ruby red eyes to shift and light up, almost as if they were on fire themselves.

William felt a small smile creep across his face as he watched the other’s eyes. 

“Funny, fire seems to suit him better than Ice…” He thought.

When Sebastian served them both up, he decided to sit a bit closer to Sebastian than he usually did, as he ate the… rather delicious meal considering it was made of several improvised ingredients… he thought back on the day’s events. 

It felt like… the first time he really believed Sebastian wasn’t going to turn on him… the first time he was really able to turn and see Sebastian for the man he was, not for the monster he had been. He had seen hints of it before of course, he had gotten to know Sebastian over the course of their travels, but some part of him still didn’t trust it back then… and of course he still had that lower level thirst for power.

Yet now, as they sat here, he didn’t feel that sense of desperation for power and control the curse had instilled within him. He finished eating first, and calmly watched Sebastian as he finished his bowl.

He set his bowl down and off to the side, feeling William’s gaze upon him and slowly turned to him. For a moment he couldn’t breathe, his heart skipping several beats before pounding in his ears. The look William was giving him was so… heavy and fierce. He felt as if those striking green eyes were piercing right through him. 

William nearly shivered as he looked at Sebastian's eyes... yes... fire really did suit him more than ice... his brilliant passionate red eyes had been clouded over before with that icy blue he had come to know, and fear. Yet now, his real gaze, his eyes that were purely and shamelessly his shown like the embers of the flames they sat besides, cutting through the darkness with ease. 

Their heartbeats pounded in their ears, and each feared of the other hearing... of knowing how much they wanted to relive the passionate kiss they shared earlier in the day. Sebastian reached forward, cupping William's face and slowly bringing him closer to him. William leaned into the calm gesture and shifted, climbing in between Sebastian's legs and pressing his body up against his. Feeling each other's warmth, their breath stopped, caught deep in their throats. Finally, Sebastian parted his lips and closed the heated gap between them.

Their kiss was passionate yes, but this time they took their time, exploring the unknown territory, William was stiff at first, becoming overwhelmed with the sense of closeness he had both craved and refused to accept. That was, until he felt Sebastian's warm hands on his bare back as he pushed them under his top. He melted in Sebastian's arms, going limp as they slowly fell against the ground.

Sebastian pulled away and stared down at William's flushed face as they both gasped for air. God he could live for that embarrassed, somewhat lewd look he was faced with. He pushed a few strands of hair out of William's face.

"Well I suppose this is... sudden..." William gasped slightly.

Sebastian smiled softly, running his hand along William's jawline, landing on the other's chin and gently tilting William's head slightly. 

"I beg to differ," He connected their lips again, kissing him once more deeply as William's hands tangled in his hair. "This has been a long time coming."

\---

The next morning, Sebastian groaned and rolled over expecting to find himself laying on Ice again, yet instead he only felt the grass, the gentle morning air, the soft cotton-blanket over his naked body, and William's warm body, that had just moved closer to him and pressed against him once more. He felt only warmth, no cold. His eyes flickered open, in fact he felt no despair, nothing tugging at his mind to achieve power once more... in fact, he felt better waking this morning than he had in an incredibly long time.

He turned once more to face William, the other man calmly opened his eyes to look back at Sebastian. "Good morning..." He mumbled bashfully.

Sebastian chuckled deeply, running one hand down along William's arm before gripping onto his hand under the blanket.

"Good morning Will..." 

He was greeted with the plesent site of William's sweet smile as he stared back at him. They both looked at each other hazily, feeling something that... well could be described but perhaps they weren't ready to declare it yet, but it was exciting... and made them feel as if they should be with each other always.

Then as the sleep and hazy feeling left William's mind slightly, his eyes grew wide. "Your... your not cold at all."

Sebastian shook his head. "No... how do you feel?"

William slowly sat up, Sebastian followed suit and watched as the man furrowed his brows.

"I... feel better than I have in a while." William placed a hand over his heart. "I feel as if..."

"You've be relieved of a heavy burden?" Sebastian offered

William looked back at him calmly, tilting his head to one side. "Yes."

They stared at each other for a long moment before hugging each other, taken with intense joy and relief.

"Their gone... oh... Sebastian they're gone!" William declared.

Sebastian thought he might start sobbing, all this time... all this time without love, only filled with cold hatred for all living things, yet now he held William in his arms, freed from his curse.

Yet... as in all good times, there exists a little demon in one's mind that reminds them of the darker side of life, so as he held William, a sense of sorrow and guilt slipped back into him.

William parted from him first smiling lightly at him as he cupped Sebastian's cheeks. "Well then... We won't need to go to the forest! We're free of our curses, we can do good for those we affected under the influence and then..."

Sebastian's face slowly fell as he looked away from William's eyes. He took the other's hands and lowered them. "No..."

William looked hurt and puzzled, it pained Sebastian to see... he had seen William's face in pain and sorrow far too much for his liking. 

"What do you mean 'no'?" William asked.

"We still need to get you your memories back." Sebastian stated solemnly.

William bit his lip before looking at Sebastian, shaking his head. "I don't need them, I'm happy enough here, I don't need to know..."

Sebastian squeezed William’s shoulders tightly. “No… you do need to know, it’s your right. And then you can make your decision  _ with _ that information.”

“My… decision?” William asked. “What do you mean  _ decision??” _ He snapped at Sebastian inadvertently, they were having such a sweet moment, yet now… if felt tainted like so many of their close-encounters before.

“The decision of whether you want to stay… or you want to go back to where you came from… to your home.”

William leaned closer the Sebastian again, moving in to try and kiss him. “It won’t matter… I’ll choose to stay with you. Isn’t that what true loves do.”

Sebastian pulled away and bit his lip, staring off at the forest before them for a few moments before taking a deep breath, willing his eyes to stay dry and his voice not to break.

“William, The Ice King used you back then, he could have cared less about you losing your memories because he knew he could control you easier if you forgot who you were… and he could keep you with him because you would lose your desire to leave.”

William studied Sebastian’s face, he had just felt… so happy. He didn’t want to remember if there was even the slightest chance he would leave all that he currently knew… yes, he remembered no childhood… nothing of his parents… but he wasn’t unhappy, not anymore.

“I want to get your memories back for you Will… so I can give you back what you’ve lost, so you can once again control what was taken from you without a second thought.”

William shook his head stubbornly. “But I was running away from that world! It can’t have been that great if I was trying to escape it.”

Sebastian sighed deeply and pulled William into a hug. “Our memories, no matter how painful make us who we are. There are so many things I’ve done, things I’ve experienced that I wish I could forget… but I need my pain, and I need my memories, and you need them too.”

“I’m happier this way.” He muttered clinging onto Sebastian’s shoulders.

“You don’t know that yet…” He pulled away from William. “And we should at least give you the chance to find out… alright? Besides, I want to know all of you, and I’d daresay remembering a life before the Ice King,” He wrapped his arms tightly around William’s waist, holding him firm “Is a gift in itself.”

They sat together for a long moment before William finally parted and stood up to clean up and re-pack everything for their journey.

“You’re right…” He smiled “...for once.” He teased.

Sebastian beamed at him and leapt to his feet. “There’s a first time for everything, hmm?”

\---

 

When they mounted their horses and reached the forest's edge the stopped just before the first few trees. William gulped, he had forgotten just how dark the interior of the forest was, the canopy so far above yet so tightly wound never showed any sign of daytime to the things that dwelled in the thick forest’s depths.

“Well, it’s certainly appropriately named,” Sebastian commented.

William nodded slowly in agreement and they slowly ventured inside, silently saying goodbye to the sunlight. William lit a small flame in his hand and nearly jumped as he realized his flames were no longer a sickly green but a calm, bright blue. The light while still odd for a fire was oddly comforting.

Sebastian smiled sweetly at him. “That color suits you better, it doesn’t look as bitter.” He said with a wink.

William smiled slightly and looked away. As soon as he did, the bright blue flame grew brighter and shifted to a deep, passionate red - much to the alarm of both of them.

“I… the color is based on my moods? Why did it not do that before?” William questioned, a bit annoyed that the flame was showing his emotions to the world… the flame turned yellow in response bringing out the tints of the very same color in William’s eyes.

“You were sick before, and the curse kept you toxic… I’d guess it was merely reflecting that.” Sebastian suggested, watching William’s flames admiringly.

“I… I suppose so…”

The flame soon returned to its soft comforting blue, the walked forward in silence, staring up at the trees, their horses walking forward slowly, wary of the strange surroundings. They began seeing small fire flies floating through the air peacefully all around them. The pair noted that it was just a bit too quiet.

“Where do we go?” William asked in a hushed voice. He didn’t know why he felt inclined to speak so quietly, yet it seemed to be the right thing to do.

“Ideally… we keep heading south… that is currently our only guide. This forest moves and shifts with a mind of its own. When we were last in here, it was an easy in and out trip… but now, if we lose our sense of direction we could become trapped here for longer than expected.” Sebastian explained, whispering back to William. Apparently, he felt the need to whisper as well.

Their journey was quiet and uneventful for hours, the only sound being the slight crackling of William’s flame, the quiet hum of crickets, and the occasional rustling of small animals and the haunting calls of owls. William would occasionally look over at Sebastian, his flame shifting a light pink every time he did. In some way, he would admit, he almost had wanted to put off the forest if only to spend a little while longer with Sebastian without any worries or care. 

Sebastian certainly noticed William staring at him, and the obvious shift in lighting. If they were not currently on this journey, he was sure he’d want to hold the other man tight and explore all these feelings that had suddenly jumped to the forefront. Upon reflection… he realized he had felt some sort of affection for the man ever since he was free from his curse. Perhaps some part of him buried under the Ice King had grown fond of William even before then… yet he hadn’t wanted to act on those feelings despite having been starting to wish their kisses meant something… and now that they did, and didn’t need to kiss to avoid losing themselves… well, all he really wanted to do right now was kiss the other man and meld together so perfectly as they had yesterday night.

They were both shocked out of their thoughts circling around each other when they heard a deep, low growl. They both froze, their eyes darting around wildly. Sebastian’s hand immediately grasped onto the hilt of his sword, and William took a deep breath, very carefully attempting to make the little flame independent of his hand and float in the air on his own as he carefully drew a few arrows from the quiver on his belt. 

They couldn’t see too far forward ahead of them, it was too dim and foggy. William was joyful it wasn’t the same kind of darkness as the catacombs with nowhere to run if something came up behind them, and still slightly brighter than being underground, but not especially bright.

They continued forward slowly and carefully, they heard several more growls around them… yet nothing seemed inclined to approach them. After a moment a long howl echoed through the air, vibrating through the thick tree branches.

“Wolves…” William mouthed to himself.

There was no doubt a pack nearby.

They almost thought they were far enough when suddenly their horses whinnied in fear, obviously knowing something before them. As soon as William saw several pairs of snarling snouts and razor sharp teeth dripping with saliva charging towards them, he fired three arrows. He heard a loud yipe, and a massive, misshapen black wolf fall to the ground. William looked in disgust as a slimy black substance dripped out of the wolf’s fatal wound and pooled on the ground. 

Upon hearing the larger wolf’s help, the others backed down, but were now clearly circling them. His sword fully drawn to be safe, Sebastian looked around, trying to spot the pack leader. The largest one, about the size of their horses with a deep black, oozing, gash across its face seemed the obvious choice. He gestured at it with his sword to William. William immediately shot two arrows into its head. He yelped and snarled, yet managed to still be living. It charged towards William, it’s massive black paws shaking the ground with each gallop. Sebastian charged right in front of the beast guarding William and ran at the beast himself, darting to the side at the last second and swung his sword, the blade plunging deep into the beast’s stomach. It fell to the ground, as several other wolfs tried to charge at William, while the others ran off, tails between their legs at the site of their leader’s death. He easily sent arrows into their skulls, killing the smaller beasts on impact.    
After taking a few deep breaths they gazed briefly at the massive black beast that had large chunks of the black substance spilling out of it… it seemed to be entirely made of that stuff. Sebastian looked at his dirty sword, holding it away from him.

“I am not touching that.” He commented.

“Probably a good idea, we don’t know what it could do or what it’s made of… did you get any on you?”

Sebastian shook his head. “No, you?”

“No, thank goodness.”

Sebastian eyed his sword again wearily. “What should I… do?”

“Here…” William mumbled. He reached an arm out, melting some of the rock underneath the dirt and grass of the forest, bringing it up and forming it around the sword tightly. “There, now just hold onto that, and if we come across anything else you can either use it like that, or I can melt it off for you until we clean it off.” He announced proudly.

Sebastian made an impressed noise. “I love that you can do that…”

William rode next to him proudly. “Well… and should your sword ever break, I might be able to form you a new one… though I am no blacksmith.

They chuckled and rode on into the forest, continuing south, all falling quiet again. They decided to stop when they felt tired and hungry, and the surrounding light was slightly darker than before.

They lit a fire and tied up the horses nearby, but they agreed they’d have to take shifts on sleeping. William decided to stick one of his arrows in the ground to help them remember which direction was south when they awoke.

They sat close to each other, eating their dinner and discussing the day quietly, when suddenly William’s horse collapsed to the ground with a jolting thump and a pained noise.

They both ran up to the horse in alarm William holding his light above so they could see what the potential problem was. He softly pet his horse’s mane. “Nexus?” He whispered worriedly. Sebastian’s eyes grew wide as his gaze fell on the horse’s hip. Nexus’s veins had turned black and become inflamed, the poor creature was crying and whinnying in intense pain, beginning to shake as its eye seemed to become clouded. Sebastian’s horse, Cerburus, sniffed Nexus’s head in concern for his companion. 

“William…” Sebastian whispered as he pointed out the black, inflamed areas under the horse’s skin.

William gasped in horror putting one hand over his mouth. “Wh… What do we do??”

“I don’t know… William… he’s in pain, I… I don’t know if we  _ can _ do anything…” He admitted slowly.

“There… there must be something! A… a plant... something!” He said desperately, but as he looked at Sebastian, he knew.

They had no medical knowledge, and even if they did they didn’t know what this was, other than it was putting Nexus through a slow and painful death.

“Some of the wolve’s blood must have gotten on him…” Sebastian uttered.

“Then this could have happened to either of us,” William mumbled in a monotone voice.

His hand shook as he took a dagger from his belt. He thought, somewhere in his mind that he could do it, put poor Nexus out of his sudden misery, save him some pain. But as he looked into the horse’s eyes he had become bonded to he teared up, dropping the dagger as he pet the poor horses head. Nexus shook and closed his eyes, Cerberus whinnying in despair. Nexus peaked at William weakly as if telling him “It was okay…” and to let him go. 

Sebastian put a hand on William’s shoulder, gripping it tightly. “Do you want me to…?” 

Being truthful, Sebastian wasn’t even sure he could do it himself.

William took the dagger in his hand, inhaling deeply with a shaky breath. “No… I’ll do it.” He choked out.

He reminded himself… he was saving Nexus a lot of pain before his inevitable death….

 

When the deed was done, they solemnly moved farther forward, Sebastian abandoned his sword, not wanting to take any chances. William to the best of his ability fashioned Sebastian a sword from obsidian. Sebastian had a little bit of trouble sheathing it, but it would do its function. Cerberus whinnying mournfully several times as they did, not fully understanding what happened to his friend-horse. Neither did Sebastian or William, it was so sudden, so traumatic. They truly felt as if anything in this damn forest could kill them. They were even wary of sleeping on the ground beneath them.

Neither of them were able to sleep very well, morning couldn’t come any sooner. They loaded up, redistributing their supplies to each Cerberus’s new burden, leaving behind a few things they wouldn’t need, and both clambered onto Cerberus, William in front of Sebastian, so their arms were free for their respective weapons if need be. They quickened their pace, through the forest, neither speaking much that day out of shock and exhaustion.

After a full day, when they were beginning to slow, they came to a glade in the middle of the forest. They nearly sighed in relief. It was more open than the rest of the forest, while the canopy still covered the sky, several beams of light were able to come through and hit a small, blue pool of water.

“Ah… I recognize this place!” William announced as they got off Cerberus.

“Do you?” Sebastian asked curiously.

“Indeed, this is where I gave that siren her legs she wanted…” He recalled, bending beside the pool. “I seem to recall this pool can heal physical wounds.”

“Perhaps we should bottle some of it?” He suggested.

They were both relieved to come upon a peaceful place after the hell of the previous night. 

“Mmm…” William responded.

He loosened the strings at the collar of his white top, undoing the protective vest he wore on his torso, and letting his cloak drop off his shoulders.

He need to relieve some of his stress…  _ now _ .

Sebastian watched him stupidly as he watched William disrobe, clothing pooling on the ground beside the pool. William took a few steps towards the edge of the pool, before pausing and turning to Sebastian with a slightly playful look in his eyes. “Care to join me.”

Sebastian had never stripped so fast in his life.

 

\---

 

Being in the pool… among other things, helped shed some of the horror of their shoulders, and left them feeling rejuvenated. It certainly felt nice to clean off after getting so dirty… emotionally and physically.

They lay together calmly, Cerberus laying on the ground beside the pool, occasionally taking a few gulps from it. Sebastian kept one arm around William as Will lay on his chest calmly. Growing sleepy, Sebastian ran one hand through the other man’s hair before becoming calm and limp. William pulled the blanket up over them contently, beginning to drift off himself. Just before he did, he could have sworn he heard Sebastian softly whisper three simple words.

 

“I love you…”


	19. Michael

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Memories and regrets still haunt this place, guilt in its physical form rises from the dead. It's a wonder how one filled with regret would avoid going mad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little warning, there are mentions of death and loss that may be potentially upsetting to some. We'll start getting some happy stuff soon, but there were certain things that had to be resolved.

The pair could barely bring themselves to leave the calm peace of the clearing. Sebastian noticed William being noticeably sluggish in preparing to head out, no doubt still resisting the idea of going through with retrieving his memories. And of course… it was his horse that was killed in such a harsh way, and there was the haunting thought that lingered in their heads of “ _ that could have been us _ ”.

However, Sebastian made sure to fill plenty of bottles with the healing water, should any harm come to them in the future.

Today, William requested to sit just behind Sebastian, wrapping his arms around his torso and holding onto him tightly, occasionally resting his head on the other man’s shoulder as they rode.

Sebastian decided to quicken their pace, yet was constantly scanning and keeping all of his senses aware and open should they run into anything else… undesirable.

Soon, the trees began to get shorter, Sebastian made a sigh of relief as he observed the change in height. “We’re close.” He uttered.

“How do you know if the forest is always changing?” William asked.

“Because… there are consistant sections, but they don’t always fall in the same order when traveling in one direction, and of course if you lose your way, then you might think you're traveling in circles.” He paused, looking up into the eyes of a large owl calling towards them accusingly, asking why they were there in its own way. “In our case however, the man we’re looking for resides just outside the realm of the fairy kingdom.”

William raised his eyebrows. “There are fairies? They exist?”

“Hmmm, I’m guessing they don’t exist wherever you come from if you're surprised.” Sebastian observed.

“I suppose you’re right.” He murmured in response, closing his eyes for just a moment and nuzzling into Sebastian’s neck.

“William… it’s not a good idea to distract me.” He warned.

“I’m not  _ distracting _ you, I’m resting my eyes.” William bit back in irritation, yet he didn’t move so his warm breath caused the small hairs on Sebastian’s neck to stand up.

Sebastian grit his teeth. He was sure William was doing this on purpose just to try and convince them to abandon this quest, but he would endure. “If you say so.” He whispered to the snoozing man.

The forest once again grew quiet, and Sebastian once again became wary. He wasn’t entirely sure but due to William’s silence and the steady breath he felt on his neck, it seemed as if Will had fallen deeply asleep. He didn’t quite blame him, the constant dark light made him sleepy as well, yet not having eyes behind him only served to make him more paranoid.

Through the silence, a noise came that was so soft and quiet Sebastian was almost convinced he was imagining it, yet as they traveled forward the sound only grew louder. 

It was like someone breathing heavily inside a tube, there… but… echo-y, yet not in a way that meant it was  _ far away _ .

He was about to shake William awake… for comfort, for an extra pair of eyes… when suddenly, he heard a distant voice. 

He froze, it sounded almost like a child, it was so distant and quiet he couldn’t make out what it was saying… and yet, it was certainly the voice of a child.

His heart sank. They were in the right section of the woods, he knew that, but he had a worried thought about exactly where they might be in that section.

He heard William inhale deeply and pulling himself out of his slumber, something in his subconscious pulling him awake.

“Sebastian?” He uttered rubbing his eyes.

“Shhh….” Sebastian hushed, straining his ears to hear.”

“ _ Paaaa _ ….” He managed to make out. William must have heard it too as he went quiet and became more alert.

A Woman’s voice seemed to join in the echo-y call.

“... _ bastian…. _ ”

Sebastian swallowed, hard, and before William could react, he slid off Cerberus onto the ground, horrified and entranced at the same time.

“Sebastian! What are you doing?” William hissed in panic.

Sebastian moved forward, almost not of his own free-will towards the voices.

They couldn’t lose their way now, not when they had come so far, William knew that much.

“Sebastian! Get back here!” He demanded a little more desperately.

“ _ Paaaapppp…..” _

_ “...Seeebbb …. tian….” _

Sebastian wandered forward, shuddering as he did. William growled and leapt off Cerberus, lighting a flame and setting it in place above the horse’s head, petting it reassuringly, before taking a string of thread from his pack and tieing it to Cerberus’s reins before running off after Sebastian, allowing the thread to unfurl behind him.

Sebastian’s heart was beating quickly in his ears. He knew he shouldn’t… he  _ knew _ he shouldn’t go towards the haunting sounds, but he couldn’t help it. Some part of him wanted to confirm it was just a trap and not what he thought it was. He needed to know… it wasn’t….

The voices echoed louder, through his very being, causing his hands to tremble. He heard another voice, another presence trying to get his attention, but he couldn’t focus on it.

“ _ Stiiiaan….” _

He gulped at the woman's voice, it was starting to echo less, and become more and more corporeal and  _ real _ , and a voice he recognized all too well.

“ _ Papa….” _ The child’s voice called.

His heart sank.

_ “It can’t be… _ ” He thought.

William tried holding Sebastian back, pulling on him, yelling in his ear, anything to get him to stop, but he wouldn’t stop his trajectory.

“Sebastian  _ please _ snap out of it!” he wailed desperately. The image of Sebastian laying on the ground, in place of Nexus, twitching and flailing, leeking the black liquid from his abdomen intruded his thoughts, causing tears to well up in his eyes. He put his arms around Sebastian trying to pull at him, yet still… Sebastian kept walking forward.

“Please….” William sobbed.

He knew this wasn’t worth it! He knew they should have just moved on and forgotten about all this!

That was when he heard the very real, very present voice utter the very distinct word. 

“ _ Papa…” _

He saw Sebastian’s face grow pale and sullen, it was unsettling seeing the blind fear and panic deep in Sebastian’s typically vivid eyes. William found it almost more terrifying to witness than the haunting voice of the child.

Sebastian finally stopped, freezing as a very small figure just barely came into their vision. William held onto Sebastian tightly, decidedly not going to let go even if it came down to his life. They couldn’t make out the figure clearly, only the silhouette was visible through the layers of fog and dark frigid air.

_ “Papa…. _ ”

“No…” Sebastian uttered.

“ _ Sebastian.” _ They heard the woman’s voice more clearly now as well, yet there was no figure to accompany it as of yet.

“Sebastian… let’s leave, please.” William uttered desperately, trying to tug on Sebastian’s arm.

The child began to walk towards them. William certainly didn’t like the idea of a creepy child coming towards them, and instinctively drew his bow. The sound of his bow string stretching seemed to momentarily snap Sebastian out of his trance, He grabbed William’s arm, startling him and pushed it down.

“Don’t.” He commanded firmly.

William didn’t like this at all, but obeyed… for the moment.

The child seemed to stop, fearful as he seemed to glance at William, Sebastian slid his hand down William’s arm, causing him to jump slightly, before Sebastian gripped Will’s hand in his firmly, not moving aside from that simple action.

“Papa…” The boy said clearly, coming into clearer view. He looked up at Sebastian innocently. Clothes ragged and face dirty. Yet to William’s horror, the boy had the most distinct bright red eyes he had seen so many times.

“N….” Sebastian stuttered, freezing up.

“It couldn’t…” William uttered to himself.

“Sebastian…” The woman's voice came from behind them, loud and clear. They both whipped around to see the pale face of a tall women, in disheveled, messy clothing that looked as if it had once been a well tailored dress fit for royalty that had been left to rot for…. god knows how long. A rusted crown sat atop her curled strawberry blonde hair that had fallen chaotically from an updo that William was surprised was still holding up any hair at all.

The child walked around William and Sebastian to hold the woman’s hand, looking at Sebastian with no shred of hatred in his heart, but certainly confusion. The woman on the other hand, looked somewhere in-between bursting into tears and ripping their faces off. She looked bitter, destroyed… and furious.

“No… it’s not… it can’t be… you…” Sebastian’s muttered as his eyes began to grow wet, the corners of his mouth twitching.

“Wh-who?” William asked, though somewhere deep inside he knew… but he certainly didn’t want it to be true.

“My… My wife.” Sebastian muttered.

William’s heart sank as his gaze slowly turned to the half-dead looking woman, before trailing his eyes to the young boy. “...and your son…” he whispered.

This seemed to be the trigger for the young woman, seething with anger already.

“Yes, his  _ son _ . His  _ son _ who he gave away before he was born, who he practically  _ ripped _ away from me on the day of his birth!” She shouted angrily, face turning red as she flailed her hands through the air, clenching her fists. It seemed she was barely keeping from punching Sebastian repeatedly.

“But no… that was still not enough for you, you had to get rid of me too for your lust for power!” 

Sebastian shook, the full force of all his regrets… everything, right before him.

“I’m sorry I…”

“What, you didn’t mean to?! You  _ ruined _ my  _ life _ . You gave away  _ any _ life your son could have had!”

Sebastian’s grip on William’s hand grew so tight he thought his hand might fall off entirely, yet he didn’t complain, rather… he didn’t know what to say at all.

Sebastian yelled back. “I was addicted the moment I was given a shred of power to get out of the dungeon  _ your _ father put me in! It was that or death!” He yelled back defensively. 

Of course… William knew in other scenarios he admitted his guilt, took the blame, yet at the current moment he seemed to only want to redeem his name.

“My father did a terrible thing, I admit it!” She retorted “But you punished the both of us for those sins when we did nothing to deserve it!” Her eyes began to well up with tears. “Do you think I liked being given away to a man I  _ barely _ knew in exchange for gold??!”

The little boy started to tear up, looking helpless as he watched his mother rip into the man he knew to be his father… who he just met.

Sebastian tensed up the guilt welling up inside of him. “I… I know…”

The women grasped her son’s hand like Sebastian was grabbing William’s for dear life.

“But despite that… I  _ loved  _ you.” She practically screamed. “Those ten months we were together… I thought… I thought… you’d grown to love me too.” She admitted in a burst of rage.

Sebastian hung his head silently sobbing in his own way.

“I’m sorry… I…”

“ _ Sorry _ doesn’t make up for what you’ve done to me! To  **_both_ ** of us.” she gestured to the boy who was silently sucking on his thumb. William couldn’t help but think… the boy seemed awfully young for having been born on the eve of the Ice King’s reign.

Sebastian took in a shaky breath. William didn’t know what to do aside from hug his arm affectionately. What do you say if your lover’s wife and abandoned son had come back to haunt him, really?

“I was a child.” Sebastian uttered.

“What?” The woman demanded in confusion.

“I was a child, Diana.” He insisted. “I can never excuse or makeup for what I’ve done, but you should know everything.”  He seemed to purposefully be keeping his eyes away from the child, who still stood silent, merely an observer.

“When your father first put me in the dungeon, I was very young. I traded away my childhood to the man who gave me the first taste of power, he could have gotten me out for a lower cost, but I was petrified with fear returning to my parents with nothing, and I naively… traded away… my childhood… my… our… your… the boy. Diana… when I knew you, I had only been an adult for a number of days, and it wasn’t a smooth transition like most people get. I acted stupidly, selfishly, and immaturely, I was already cursed and addicted when we met…” He breathed deep, her face had become just as lost and confused as her child’s. “I’m sorry to say, I couldn’t have had the capacity or the ability to love you, and I didn’t have the ability to do so for a very, very long time. I can never expect you to forgive me, nor do I expect you to. Everything you’ve said about me is true. But now that I’m here… I’ll...I’ll help you leave, I..!”

She looked away from him, mournfully, hurt, but no longer angry.

“We can’t leave… we can never leave.” Diana sobbed softly.

“Why?” Sebastian pleaded. “Why?!”

William felt his gut tighten as he stared at the pair. Everything about them just screamed what he feared they truly were.

Diana looked down at the boy as he tugged on her dress, Diana sighed and let go of his hand looking away from Sebastian. “Go on.”

The boy looked up at Sebastian and toddled over to him. He removed his thumb from his mouth, and tilted his head to the side, much like a cat… much like Sebastian.

“Papa?” He asked again.

Sebastian was so lost, so unprepared, but he slowly nodded, unconsciously tilting his head in a similar way. “Yes… yes, that’s me.”

The boy tugged on Sebastian’s sleeve, causing Sebastian to kneel down to eye level in response, curious as he looked at the face of the son he’d never met… or had previously cared to see. 

The boy slowly grinned and leapt forward, hugging his father tightly. Sebastian didn’t respond for a moment, children were not something he ever wanted to deal with… or knew how to deal with, but for now…

He slowly hugged the child back, William thought it would be endearing for someone like Sebastian to warm up to a child, despite not really liking the idea of raising one himself, were it not for the tragedy of the situation.

The boy smiled calmly, closing his eyes. “I’m happy I met you…” He whispered. He suddenly pulled away from Sebastian after a moment, backing up towards his mother. Sebastian reached out for him instinctively and almost desperately.

William closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to handle the truth.

The two turned away, mother and child walking hand in hand.

“Where… why…” Sebastian stuttered, losing his composure completely as tears bubbled to the surface and streamed down his face. William furrowed his brows, feeling as if he wanted to cry with him.

Diana stopped, turning back just for a moment, looking at Sebastian on his knees sobbing. She smiled sadly, looking somehow paler than she had just a moment ago, all resemblance of color lost from her face.

“I named him Michael.” She said, gripping her son’s hand tightly.

The two began to seem translucent, not fully there. Just when they were about to fade away entirely, Michael waved happily and innocently. “Bye… papa…”

In the place where they stood, there were the visible bones of a mother, curled around the remains of a child. They had already begun to naturally be buried and fade into the earth. William placed a hand over his mouth… and he heard Sebastian begin to heave and choke up.

“I… I killed them.” He whispered.

William fell to his knees besides Sebastian, pulling him close up against him in a swift moment. The broken man wept and grieved, all out sobbing, all thoughts of composure completely gone as he broke down against William’s chest.

“I killed them! I killed… I killed my  _ son _ !” He sobbed uncontrollably. 

William teared up, rubbing Sebastian’s back affectionately and kissed the top of his head. “I love you… I love you…” He uttered in response. “Come on.” He whispered softly, pulling Sebastian to his feet.

“I… I killed…” He hiccuped. “I’m … vile…”

“No, you’re not.” He hushed. Leading him along the path he had saved back to the horse, who he prayed was still there, and alive, and well. Normally, he would have stayed with Sebastian in only place, not forced him to move… yet here he was also worried for their survival.

Sebastian sobbed and hiccupped, stumbling along somewhat blindly the whole way back, despite William encouraging him to lean on him.

William wiped a few tears from his eyes as he saw the glow of his flame not too far away, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Cerberus was still there. The horse looked annoyed at them leaving him but lept to his feet as soon as he saw them approaching.

“Come on love…” He whispered to Sebastian tenderly, holding him tightly.

He helped Sebastian up onto the horse, and leapt on in front of him. He pulled Sebastian forward onto his back, letting him sob and cry softly as much as he needed to.

“I can’t believe it… I can’t believe…” He uttered as he began calming down. Yet, despite the lack of tears, the feeling hadn’t left him, yet he was certainly beginning to be worn out.

William reached back to hold his hand whenever he could and let Sebastian fall asleep behind him, riding forward in silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I nearly cried writing this, and I thought the death of Nexus was hard enough to write.


	20. Memory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At long last, their quest has come to the end, will William pick the life he had, or the new one he's been offered when all of him is put back together?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minor mentions of contemplating Suicide. Nothing happens, but I'm just warning you just in case. <3 Enjoy!

Sebastian awoke several hours later, jolting awake in a blind terror, only to be greeted with William’s low comforting voice hushing him. “You’re alright dearest. I’m here.”

Sebastian peered at him, gazing forward guiltily. “I shouldn’t have left you to ride on your own… I’m sorry.” He muttered.

“Nonsense, you let me sleep on you earlier when I didn’t even have a good reason to.” he replied. 

Sebastian said nothing in response, looking around determined rather suddenly. Seemingly not quite wanting to talk about what had just occurred. William understood completely, if he had the option not to become emotionally compromised, he would take it, yet, for the sake of his nerves, he simply asked. “Where… were we?”

Sebastian sighed, not in contempt or annoyance, but simply in exhaustion. “Well… anyone who has been abandoned or forgotten, or taken, ends up there simply put.” He explained. “If… no one comes for them or remembers them before they pass away… well, they can’t make it out.”

William nodded, not asking any more questions for the sake of Sebastian’s sanity, yet without prompting, Sebastian added.

“I didn’t know that’s where people went until I was stuck in that damned mirror.” he huffed bitterly.

“Oh.” William he stated regretfully. He knew he shouldn’t have brought up the location at all.

“Stop.” Sebastian asked suddenly in a hushed voice.

William pulled on the reins and looked at Sebastian nervously and quizzically.

“I won’t wander off this time, I promise.” he said with a rather fake level of cheeriness that left William feeling concerned and awkward all at the same time. 

He got off of Cerberus and announced. “Feli, you're here somewhere, we need to talk.”

William leapt off and walked next to him, had they really made it? It seemed like it had been such a long time, and yet, not long at all.

“What do  _ you _ want!?” The voice seemed to come from around them rather than anywhere in particular.

“I’m not doing this for me, I want to give William his memories back.” He announced firmly.

The voice grumbled angrily in annoyance before beginning to center just in front of them. The man fell from seemingly nowhere above them, standing before them and crossing his arms. “If you wanted him to get his memories back you shouldn’t have traded them away in the first place!” He lectured.

“Well, obviously. I know that  _ now _ . I was a bit concerned with him  **dying** at the time.” He defended.

“What’s one more life to you, hmm?” He spat furiously.

The words stung Sebastian’s heart like an icy poison, he looked away shamefully, going quiet. William stared at him in concern for a moment, before walking forward himself.

“Please… perhaps you needn’t give me all of my memories back, just the important ones. I was objecting to getting them back at all, but we’ve come so far, and it’s… it’s for Sebastian’s sake that I choose to stay or not of my own accord with as much information about myself as I can get.” He pleaded, trying his best to soften his tone, even if doing so never quite worked for him. Sebastian watched him in silence, parting his lips as if to say something, yet closing them just as quickly.

Feli eyed him wearily, William took a long breath, he hated to take advantage of someone’s curse… yet… “Please, can’t we make a deal?”

Feli cringed in response, turning away and wincing in pain. “Alright, Alright, for your most important memories what can you offer me?”

William thought long and hard, racking his brain for what he had to give up, Sebastian stepped forward, about to propose something, but William grabbed his arm harshly to stop him from doing anything stupid.

Suddenly he remembered something, he reached into his pack, taking out his broken glasses. He turned them around in his hand. He might be able to fix them if he could remember exactly what they looked like, even if… this worked it would be difficult.

“My sight wasn’t perfect when I got here… but it was corrected by being here and gaining power. Might… taking my sight, returning it to its pathetic state it was at permanently be enough?” He proposed.

Sebastian stared at him, he was certainly thinking of something more extreme to offer for William’s key memories… yet would his offer of vision be enough?

Feli stared into William’s eyes considering it. “You’ll give me that….  _ and  _ neither of you, or  _ any _ potential family members will  _ ever _ get to make a deal with me  **_ever_ ** again.” He raged, pointing to the pair accusingly.

“Deal!” William exclaimed. 

He had to admit, despite knowing his vision was annoying before… not having his glasses on his face was one thing he always felt was truly missing from him, more-so than his memories, he still found himself subconsciously touching his face where the spectacles  _ should _ be. He knew that no deal they tried to make would be better than this… and he thought the both of them had done quite enough of deal making with this poor man anyway.

Feli held out his hand proudly to shake on the deal, Sebastian watched them, making an impressed sound at William’s quick, measured thinking. William took Feli’s hand respectfully, as soon as he did, he nearly fell back against the ground as his vision went white briefly.

He saw his father’s face first… then his mother’s… and the distinct smell of chocolate and a burning fire. He had to be ten years old at most, his mother kissed his head. “ _ I’m so proud of you for standing up for yourself.” _ Her voice echoed through his mind.

He remembered them tucking him into bed after having come home with a bloody nose, whispering to him “ _ We love you… never forget that William _ .”

He remembered as he got older, his parents paranoid worry for his future taking precedence over everything. He remembered banging his head against his bedroom wall as he got yet  _ another  _ B on a test. Because  _ god dammit _ it wasn’t good enough. He knew he was better than this, so why couldn’t he just  _ bring himself _ to do a decent job? They were counting on him! They did so much for him why couldn’t he just do that for them?

He remembered the topic of marriage coming up, his parents hurriedly pushing for an heir… suggesting he try  _ harder _ so he could become a doctor, or perhaps a judge, it was the only way he wouldn’t be saddled with his father’s business. If only he tried  _ harder _ , if only he was  _ better. _

He remembered…. a quiet night where he sat alone in the kitchen, looking at the knives on the kitchen counter, up late trying  _ desperately _ to understand his schoolwork… thinking just how easy it would be to get out of all of them if he only…

The thought terrified him yet seemed so welcoming at the same time.

He loved his mother and father dearly… but the pressure only got worse, and yet he felt as if he shouldn’t complain, he had everything so  _ easy _ . He just had to work… work … work… work… if he stopped for even a second, he would slip up.

Finally, he was back on that fateful day, surrounded by young women, eyes boring into him, expecting him to choose at least one of them to marry. They may as well have been just a mass of eyes.

“ _ Just say hello or something William, they don’t bite…” _

He could feel the stuffy uncomfortable air rising in the room as some of the girls looked at each other, waiting for him to say something, smiles fading slightly in confusion. His dad nudged him harshly.

“ _ Say _ something boy.”

William swallowed heavily, feeling as if he had sand stuffed down his throat. His joints felt completely frozen in place, and was sure his heart would stop beating any moment.

“I er…” he started, shoulders stiffening further as he heard how uncertain his own voice sounded. “Hel…helllo….welcome…”

Some of the girls furrowed their brows as they struggled to hear what he had just uttered.

“ _ Speak up, you know better than that, _ ” his mother whispered.

He pushed up his glasses quickly, despite not needing to.

“Welcome, I…” He considered their expectant eyes and his words failed him again.

He couldn’t do this. He just  _ couldn’t _ . He had never been the type to say that he wanted to “fall in love”, but the idea he would have to pick one of these women. They all seemed to be just a crowd of eyes,  _ staring  _ at him. It would never mean anything, he’d have to pick randomly anyway, and he’d have to marry and… _ sleep _ with them. The thoughts of what this party was really for finally caught up with him. He had kept himself from really thinking about it for his parent’s sake.

“I… I’m sorry... I must go. Forgive me for wasting your time.”

He remembered running, something inside him had given way and he couldn’t do this anymore. He hid in the massive wardrobe…. and then… the cold… he remembered the cold. The memory became almost dreamlike as he slipped in between worlds, his memories linking up together, one explaining the other. Realizing in horror he was stuck in this world, alone… until he heard the distant jingling of bells. He hid behind a tree.

Then, finally, he remembered fully the first time he laid eyes on the Ice King’s…. on  _ Sebastian’s _ face, and everything he told him about his own world… when he tried to run and heard his mother’s voice just before he passed out at the time surrounded by wind and snow.

“William!” 

His eyes shot open as he heard Sebastian’s voice. His vision was blurry and he was lying on the ground, he groaned and rubbed the back of his head, sitting up to move off of the rock that was sticking up uncomfortably between his shoulder blades.

Damn, he had forgotten just how blurry and indistinguishable everything was. He felt his glasses in his hand, before doing anything else… he focused on them. They were so familiar to him, so… oddly comforting to his nerves despite having once wished his sight wasn’t shit, he slid them onto his face, fully repaired from being crushed by his own boot.

He narrowly avoided grinning at having them back at his face. He turned to Sebastian who was looking at him wearily.

He pulled the man in for a quick kiss, somewhat viciously as he subconsciously told him to calm himself. He parted and hovered just in front of Sebastian’s face for a moment staring at him, technically but really, he was looking straight through him.

“My mother and father… has it been as long for them as it is for me?” He asked out loud.

“I don’t know I’m afraid.” Sebastian admitted, offering a hand to help William stand up.

He took it and continued to stare forward blankly. Sebastian felt his misery from everything seep back into the front of his mind as he looked at William’s long face. “You must miss them, now you remember them.”

“...I do…” William affirmed.

Sebastian slowly smiled at him, despite a rather dark thought of wanting to keep William there with him somehow lingered in his mind. “I’ll… help you get back to them.”

William snapped out of his dazed state and turned to Sebastian, head moving quickly and almost robotically, adjusting his glasses he gave Sebastian a glare. “I didn’t say that I… that I wanted you to do that, don’t put words in my mouth.”

Sebastian blinked a few times in shock.

William realized awkwardly he hadn’t meant to be so harsh, with his memories returned, he realized that it might bring back some undesirable habits. Yet, like with his glasses, he did appreciate having himself in-tact. He didn’t realize until he had become mostly himself again that he had missed anything at all.

He turned away from Sebastian to save face, taking a deep breath and looking up at the forest canopy above.

“What…” Sebastian started, and paused, moving around to make William face him anyway, putting his hands on his shoulders “what do you  _ want _ William.”

William gazed into his eyes, his chest ached at the thought of disappointing his parents… the thought that they may not even be  _ alive _ anymore, so much time had passed. He hadn’t aged much at all, but the years had certainly passed.

“I will stay with you.” He declared finally, very firmly.

Sebastian’s eyes went wide, completely flabbergasted. “Are… are you sure?” He didn’t want to sound too happy just yet… however the potential relief was causing his excitement to build.

“I wouldn’t say it if I wasn’t!” William answered with a flustered huff.

“Why? Don’t you miss your world? As you’ve said, you miss your family...” Sebastian stuttered.

William adjusted his glasses once more. “Of course, I’ll miss my family terribly!” He paused briefly, walking away from Sebastian to lightly stroke Cerberus’s mane. “But there is no life for me there anymore. It’s arguable whether there was even a meaningful life to live before I stumbled upon this place…”

Sebastian walked up to him slowly, watching William’s thoughtful face. He found himself admiring William even more somehow. Gone was the lost and even somewhat innocent being that had come from the mind of a man who had lost most of his life experience, yet, that did not deter him. In fact he found himself intrigued with the way the eyes he already admired so much were filled with a sort of deep wisdom he wished to come to know.

“After everything I’ve been through, after meeting you… lived so long in this place full of things I would have never even imagined were possible in my old life,” The corners of his lips drifted upwards slightly. “No, I could never go back. Besides… I could never travel as I have here back there. In fact I doubt I’d ever leave my home town really. It’s too much of an ordeal.”

Sebastian calmly reached out and touched William’s hand, the other man seemed to almost jump at the physical contact, despite all they had already come into contact with each other. William seemed to be surprised at himself even, but Sebastian merely found it to be another thing he wanted to find out about William… and he wanted to know  _ all _ of this man, after all… the Ice King and the Dark King wanted to weed that part out of him for a reason… didn’t they?

“William, you’ll have to forgive me… but I… well… I manipulated you, I hurt you. I’m the reason you….” He started, the guilt he had tried to shove to the side for their goal bubbling up again.

William interrupted him, covering his mouth with his hand. “Shush.” He insisted before moving his hand somewhat rigidly, yet still affectionately, to Sebastian’s cheek.

“The Ice King did horrible things, and yes, you acted against yours, and other’s best interests before you were cursed…” He moved forward, placing his forehead against Sebastian’s, staring at him firmly. “But you listen to me Sebastian Michaelis… you are not the same person you were back them.  _ That _ is not who you are anymore, you’ve done more than enough to prove that to me.”

Sebastian swallowed thickly, he really didn’t want to become emotional again, but the way William had so straightforwardly said that to him.

William stepped away from him, looking at him seriously but still holding on tight to his hand.

“You will always have to live with the consequences of your past actions, as will I, but what matters is what you choose to do now, and in the future and whether you decide to run from your past… or acknowledge it and learn from it.” 

Sebastian let William’s calm words sink in, and found himself appreciating them more than if someone said “It’ll all be fine” or “everything is okay now”.

He furrowed his brows and found himself staring at William adoringly. “What did I do to deserve you?”

William smiled back “Nothing, but your stuck with me anyway.” He teased.

“Ah… I must be the luckiest man alive.” He said, pulling William in for a close.

“Call it pure, dumb luck.” He chided in response with a small chuckle of his own, patting Sebastian’s back affectionately.

After staying in each other's warm embrace for longer than they could really know, before finally, with a sudden burst of energy, Sebastian leapt onto Cerberus and pulled William up with him.

“Let’s get the hell out of here.” He announced.

“I couldn’t agree with you more darling.” William replied just as they took off through the woods to wherever their journey took them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> neXT CHAPTER IS THE LAST ONE Ya'LLL


	21. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ending is just the beginning of a long fulfilling life for these two, but for now, we'll close the book recounting their tale knowing they've found their way.

Mercifully, they made it out of the forest all in one piece, only having to slay a few beasts and a rather sickening insect about the thickness of a tree trunk and way too many legs to count. William emphasized that he would have never complained about a spider or centipede in his old world ever again. Sebastian thought the idea of those things being small enough to crawl up your nose your in your ear even more terrifying.

They rode up into a lone mountain, into the smell of thick pine and the slight chill in the air. 

“Where shall we go now William?” Sebastian asked as they cuddled close together… their “excuse” being the cold of course.

“Oh, something relaxing, I really have had the daylights scared out off me enough for a while, yet I have no preference for specifics, as this a whole world we’re free to wander I know nothing of.” William mused, leaning against Sebastian and rubbing the other’s hand with his thumb affectionately. “A vacation of sorts, I think.”

Sebastian hummed in agreement “Indeed… rest sounds… nice.”

He placed a kiss on William’s cheek as they came to a stop upon seeing a clearing in the trees that allowed them to see down over the hills and the dark forest in the distance now. A cool breeze caressed their cheeks as birds chirped happily in the pines… the world seemingly at peace, as they were.

“Quite honestly, I haven’t seen much of the world myself. I’d only ever heard stories or seen it through wherever there happened to be a reflecting surface, and even then… well I couldn’t be everywhere.” Sebastian admitted with a long content sign.

“Then…” William turned to Sebastian, pausing for a moment only to give him a long tender kiss. “We’ll experience it all together for the first time.” He decided.

Sebastian laughed, and pushed William’s glasses up his nose. “I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

 

\---

 

Memories of the Ice King’s terror, and the ruthless wrath of the Dark King never fully left the world’s memory. It surely left a deep scar that would never heal in the hearts and minds of many. Feelings of loss… regret… guilt would never really go away. Yet despite everything, life goes on. William found himself comforting Sebastian when the man would wake up in a blind, chaotic terror, haunted by the images of his dead wife… but particularly his dead son. Michael never truly had a chance to live, and Sebastian knew it was his doing without a doubt. Where he used to complain, now, if they ever heard of a lost or suffering child they swore to help them to the best of their abilities. They never did want a child of their own, yet Sebastian felt that with each child they saved, it would be something towards saving any more children from having to suffer a similar fate.

They both earned reputations they were more proud of. William, gaining the reputation of being a skilled magician and Sebastian… was eventually claimed to be the best swordsman that anyone could think of.

They didn’t possess a lot of power, but after several years, they were certainly welcomed wherever they went. Notably, they helped the red-haired siren William had taken the voice from be able to speak again…. though when she could speak again, she never was able to stop talking about how she adored the two “handsome men”, even if her song would never lure people to drown as she was meant to. Yet she seemed perfectly fine with that fact. William sheepishly presented the young woman he had cured to fall into a slumber some of the finer things he had earned on their travels in hopes she could at least no longer want his head on a platter. Yet, she respectfully turned him down and said beating the snot out of him back then was satisfactory for her, and appreciate him keeping her from any real harm. Though her wife made her protests fully know by whining and lecturing the once sleeping princess to “Stop being nice to the nasty dragon-man!!”

They eventually were able to have a red riding hood made, and sent it to the appropriate kingdom, with a note from William attached reading “Sorry for burning your hands.”

Their travels, their stories were forever tol. They decided… seeing what the world had to offer with your true love for all eternity was the greatest gift they could ever hope for. Even if they didn’t always believe they deserved each other’s company, they were thankful for it regardless. They felt the world had so much to offer, and they were free to explore it.

Forever, they would be together in a never ending story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I GODDAMNED FINISHED IT HOLY GUACAMOLE!!!!!  
> This is the most committed I've ever been to ANYTHING.  
> I know there are places where I would do things differently in retrospect, and some of these later chapters I didn't spend a lot of time editing (tho I'll get to it, i'm not the type to leave typos in things permanently)  
> but AHHH I hope you've enjoyed this AU that I got WAYYY too into. I have a lot more Sebawill fics planned, but I wanted to tie this one up and give it a proper ending. Thank you for reading ya'll!


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